'The Boys' star Karen Fukuhara talks about creating Kimiko's 'powerful' sign language on season 2
- Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for season two of Amazon Prime Video's "The Boys."
- Karen Fukuhara, who stars as Kimiko Miyashiro, spoke to Insider about working with sign language coach Amanda Richer to create her character's sign language on this season.
- The sign language that Kimiko uses to communicate with her brother was created specifically for the show.
- Fukuhara told us that signing is "so powerful" and working with Richer informed her approach to portraying Kimiko on season two.
"The Boys" star Karen Fukuhara spoke to Insider about crafting Kimiko Miyashiro's unique sign language for season two of the hit Amazon Prime Video show.
"I got to work with Amanda Richer, who was the sign language coach for Sally [Hawkins] on 'The Shape of Water,' and she is phenomenal because she's the one who's creating the language," the 28-year-old actress told Insider.
Fukuhara's character was first introduced during season one of the show, which is based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's comic-book series of the same name.
The show's rag-tag vigilante group, known as The Boys, discovered Kimiko in a basement and learned that she was injected with Compound V, which gave her special abilities like super speed and regenerative healing.
This season has revealed more of Kimiko's layers, particularly through the introduction of her younger brother, Kenji Miyashiro (Abraham Lim). The siblings finally reunited after years of being separated and Kimiko communicated with him via a special sign language that was created just for the show.
"We have a whole vocabulary list, if you will, of Kimiko and Kenji's language," Fukuhara told us.
The actress went on to explain that though her experience of learning sign language, she learned how "powerful" it is.
"Going into it, I didn't think that signing could be as powerful as it is," Fukuhara said. "When Kimiko's trying to get the point across to Kenji in episodes two and three, she's really pouring her heart out and it's through signing, because she can't speak, and it's so powerful."
Fukuhara went on to say that working with Richer informed her approach to portraying Kimiko this season.
"I think what helped is Amanda sharing her own experiences with me," she told us. "That helped me gain insight on what it's like to live in this society that doesn't really cater to people that have disabilities and feeling like the 'other' person."
"Those stories really fueled Kimiko's psyche and my preparation for the character this season. It really meant a lot for me to be able to work with her."
The first three episodes of season two of "The Boys" were released in early September, with new episodes dropping weekly. It culminates in the season finale, hitting the streaming service on Friday, October 9.