Derek Luh & London Thor

The first time Timid met Derek Luh and London Thor was at their very first Unforgettable Gala in 2023, affectionately nicknamed “Asian prom” by the AAPI community. For the duo, the night carried the charge of a homecoming. They were stepping onto a red carpet and stepping into a community eager to embrace them. Ushered warmly into a space celebrating Asian American talent, Luh and Thor found themselves among peers who understood the weight of their breakout role as Jordan Li, Gen V’s groundbreaking bigender supe in Prime Video’s bloody, brilliant spinoff of The Boys. At the gala, they were gracious, accepting compliments with sincerity, and expressed genuine excitement at the idea of one day collaborating in these very pages.

Fast forward to fall 2025, and the calendar reads back-to-school. Gen V’s sophomore season premiered September 17, dropping audiences straight back into the halls of Godolkin University. On a crisp Wednesday afternoon in October, Luh and Thor recall that first conversation with us. “Yes, we needed to do something with Timid,” Derek remarked cheerfully.

Though this marks the first time either of them has reprised a role for a second season, their return to Gen V carried none of the usual back-to-school jitters. “Honestly, we were both really excited,” Thor said. “The response from season one was kind of unexpected for me with how much people responded to Jordan. There were high stakes to keep that up, but we have an easy job because the writing is so good.” Luh agreed, adding, “I felt like, oh, we’re good. Jordan’s beloved. We’re coming back, and Jordan’s arc and story are just so great.”

The story picks up directly from season one, with Jordan and Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway) freed from Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center and allowed to re-enroll at Godolkin, their narratives reframed to label them as heroes following the supe-versus-non-su­pe culling on campus. Jordan struggles with feelings of abandonment after their partner, Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), escapes Elmira, leaving them behind.

This season also faced the task of honoring Chance Perdomo and his character, Andre Anderson, following the actor’s tragic passing. Five scripted episodes had to be reworked while preserving the show’s signature dark humor, tension, and emotional depth. “I set a goal at the beginning of the show,” Thor said. “I wanted to find one moment in every episode that would make Chance laugh. It was just fun to have a little private moment. The show is sad, but it’s also funny, so you can’t make it all about your mourning or grief.”

In answering this question about their goals for season two, it was here where their chemistry really ping-pongs back and forth. Luh and Thor possessed a preternatural affinity for finishing each other’s sentences throughout the interview and intuitively uplifting one another. Luh reflected on the work he’d done between seasons with a new acting coach, experimenting with everything he’d learned to find what worked in each scene. Thor chimed in, noting how committed Luh is and praising his ability to trust himself and his instincts. “That’s true. Actually, you’re right. Trusting myself,” Luh said, acknowledging her words. “First season, I was just thrown into the TV. What do you want me to do? Now I know Jordan. I know where this story is headed. London actually set the goal for me. I didn’t even know it.”

Their synergy, honed from the very first time they met, extends beyond playful banter. It is embedded in how they inhabit Jordan together. Luh and Thor collaborated early on to craft the character’s intimate details: favorite films like Body Heat and The Princess Bride, a love of chicken tenders, and even Jordan’s astrological sign, Scorpio. These small touches anchor their performance and help the duo fully inhabit Jordan’s personality across both forms. Jordan’s power to switch genders adds an extra layer of complexity. The male form wields invulnerability and is often more sensitive, while the female form generates force field-like energy blasts and is steelier, the preferred mode in combat. The actors’ seamless collaboration allows them to convey these nuanced differences, matching mannerisms and emotional beats so that Jordan feels like a singular, living character even as their form and expression shift in scenes.

The technical demands of Jordan’s gender-switching powers evolved too. “In the first season, it was all about figuring it out,” Luh said. “Even in the early episodes, we needed our hair slicked back because they didn’t know how it would work, trying to CGI different hair pieces, different strands of hair. But now the technology behind the switch has leveled up, so it wasn’t nearly as much work.”

Both actors also appreciate how the switches were incorporated this season. “It helped the writers pick and choose when the switch happened,” Luh said. One of the most effective uses of Jordan’s shifting ability this season comes in a brutal sequence where they are coerced into a kayfabe-style cage match against Marie by the manipulative new dean, Cipher. Before the fight, Jordan and Marie share a tender exchange in the locker room, with Jordan in their male form opening up about their insecurities and Marie offering reassurance and acceptance. Once inside the ring, however, Cipher seizes control, forcing Jordan’s female form to attack Marie like a puppet. Afterward, Jordan admits how terrifying the experience was, confessing that they had never before been unable to control their own body. For someone who has always found a sense of freedom in their ability to shift forms at will, that loss of agency is traumatically cutting.

Thor shared that the locker room conversation after the fight was the hardest scene to do, and they worked with scriptwriter Lauren Greer to find the right balance. “There’s a subtext of sexual assault. This is what it is,” Thor reflected. “I wanted to find a way to bring that in without it overwhelming the overall story. Having no control over your body is such an unfortunately common feeling that I think a lot of women have.”

The scene also required discussion with Luh. Thor explained, “It was also one of the only conversations I had with Derek explaining, this is how it would feel, this is how you would genuinely react, how I would genuinely react. The story was a lot of work, but it was great.”

Flashy superpowers, gore, people crawling out of anuses—the universe of The Boys and Gen V can be outrageous, but it is always grounded in real-world issues. In another instance of sharp social commentary, Jordan finally ascends to the rank of the number one Supe at Godolkin, only to be misidentified and co-opted as a marketing prop by Vought and Head of Student Life Stacey. Branded “Transtastic” and gifted a hybrid car because “it’s like them,” Jordan’s identity becomes a public performance, a tongue-in-cheek but biting mirror on how corporations commodify marginalized identities. When Jordan steps on stage to deliver a carefully scripted speech, they make the brave choice to vociferously abandon the company line, instead exposing hard truths in defiance of both Vought’s spin and Cipher’s manipulations.

Luh and Thor leaned heavily on writer Jett Garrison, who is trans, to navigate scenes like this one. “In the scene with Stacey, I kept fumbling the line and saying, ‘I’m bigendered,’” Luh recalled. “Jett came over and said, ‘Hey, I just want to let you know it’s bigender, and we should be very intentional about that.’ Jett is always there for these types of scenes, to talk things through.” Thor added, “Absolutely. Jett was on set a lot more this year than in season one, which was great. He’s also an amazing writer and storyteller, so being able to ask him questions about what was going on was really helpful. We trust him so much; it feels safe, and I feel like we’re doing justice and not disservice.”

It’s through the duo’s nonpareil portrayal as Jordan that these moments land with such resonance and reliability. “The ones that get me are when people say, ‘I’m a straight man and I’m attracted to both of them,’” Luh said with a laugh. Thor jumped in: “There are a bunch of jokes about the bisexual dream, but it’s nice to have that conversation because it normalizes what should be a normal discussion, bisexuality and sexuality in general. The character is a mirror, so people can reflect on their own lives, their own sexuality, and their own identity.”

Off-screen, Luh and Thor also geek out over other stories and characters. Luh is a fan of Don Winslow’s City on Fire and would love to join the upcoming film adaptation starring Austin Butler. Thor is eyeing the adult fantasy series Fourth Wing from novelist Rebecca Yarros, which is receiving a Prime Video adaptation. She also gushed over Michelle Zauner’s memoir Crying in H Mart. “I will help make that movie. It needs to be made. I would die to play that character. It’s so good. It’s so heartbreaking. It’s such a good depiction of mixed Asian heritage. That’s the book I read where I thought, that’s what this feels like,” she said.

As for their future within The Boys universe, the pair have some ideas. “London mentioned she would like Jordan to fight The Deep, just beat the shit out of him,” Luh said.

Thor laughed. “He can be bad though. I mean, he had that one fight scene last season.”

“But he killed a PR guy,” Luh shot back. “He didn’t fight a Supe like us. We would dominate him.”

Luh added, “I think Jordan can hold his own against Homelander.”

That comment about holding their own against Homelander is more than just bravado. Homelander, with his terrifying presence and ruthless authority, embodies monstrous evil, a chilling stand-in for real-world fascism and unchecked power. The idea of an Asian, bigender character like Jordan choosing to confront that darkness by standing their ground offers a glimmer of hope. Even in a show as irreverent and chaotic as Gen V, it’s a reminder that true strength comes from authenticity. Through Luh and Thor’s fearless, thoughtful performance, Jordan becomes a true beacon. Godolkin University may be full of useless courses, but if there’s one lesson worth holding onto, it’s found in Jordan’s courage and their revolutionary power of loving unapologetically.
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Gen V is now streaming everywhere on Prime Video.