The ‘band of freaks’ of 'Doom Patrol' might finally find their groove in Season 4, Cyborg actor says

For a show filled with heroes who can’t help but let their freak flags fly, HBO Max’s Doom Patrol is embarking on an ambitious tilt toward making them into a slightly less-dysfunctional unit. As the DC Comics-based series sets out on a brand-new season with newer, higher stakes, Cyborg actor Joivan Wade says his character is taking a serious step toward helping the hilariously hindered gang find unity.

“You never really get to grips on it until you’re actually going up the donkey’s arse, and then you realize oh s***! — This is the Doom Patrol!” Wade told SYFY WIRE and other assembled media at this year’s New York Comic Con, discussing how the cast got in the right headspace ahead of the show’s Season 4 premiere. “And you know it gets wackier and weirder with each season.”

For Wade’s Cyborg (aka Vic Stone), the wacky stuff may just stem from being stripped, as the season sets out, of all his high-tech hero skills. “At the end of Season 3, we left Vic in a place where he confronted his father and decided that he is going to take matters into his own hands, and he wants to experience what it feels like to be ‘Vic Stone’ — what it feels like to be a human; what it feels like to just be a black man,” explained Wade.

“And we saw that when he was having a conversation with Frenzy [Miles Mussenden], and he was questioned about what it means to be black. And that really got to a point where he decided that he had to experience that, and had to know what it meant. And so this season, we pick up with Vic losing his cybernetics and going on a journey to try and understand exactly who he is… We really do see him battling with what it means to be a hero, because he’s lost the glory of what makes him a hero, you know?”

But it’s not just Vic who’s facing a time-twisting test to summon the inner strength — amidst a grody sight gag or two, of course — to take down the mysterious Immortus Project in Season 4’s big nemesis story arc. Wade teased that the entire group will finally begin to “gel” as a true team; one that at last grasps that not all the traits that set them apart from the rest of humanity are funny, freaky hindrances.

“For so long, we’ve been in a place where they’ve been fighting against being the Doom Patrol and coming together as a band of superheroes,” Wade said. “It’s always been about going against the grain and going against the mode of what it actually means to be a collective.

“This season is the first time where they’re forced to come together and forced to be the Doom Patrol in its superhero glory. We really get to see the moments that we’ve all been waiting for, when we see this band of freaks together — and even as a fan, all you’re wanting is for them to gel and kind of come together, and we do get to start to see the essence of that this season.”

Season 4 of Doom Patrol swings back to HBO Max starting today, Dec. 8. The show stars Wade alongside Matt Bomer (Larry Trainor), Matthew Zuk (Negative Man), April Bowlby (Rita Farr), Michelle Gomez (Madame Rouge), Brendan Fraser (Cliff Steele), Riley Shanahan (Robotman), and Sheppard (Willoughby),

Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report.

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