I know most fans of The Boys were way more into the original series than its more youthful Gen V spinoff, but I always really enjoyed the setting and the stakes in Gen V before it was unceremoniously canceled at Amazon. While watching the series, I always thought Andre’s dad looked extremely familiar, but it was generally a passing thought I had while watching rather than something I was deeply interested in investigating. And then I watched Dancing with the Stars this week and had such an aha moment I have to talk about it.
After fans made all the Save The Last Dance comments (and Juilliard even shaded the actress) when Julia Stiles joined the ABC reality competition series, it felt like it was only a matter of time before the actress busted out some of her early aughts dance moves on the show. That week was this week, and when she and pro partner Ezra Sosa busted out some sweet moves, her co-star Sean Patrick Thomas was there to watch. You can see him partway through the performance when he and Ezra line up.
Only in that moment did I realize the young man I’d gone to see not once, not twice, but three times when Save The Last Dance was in theaters back in 2001 was the same man who played Andre’s dad in the Amazon Prime Video series. Listen: In the late nineties and early 2000s Thomas was around. I remember him from Dance, but also Cruel Intentions and Barbershop. Then, he kind of shifted into TV and I lost tabs on him. Some of his big recent roles like in For All Mankind, I just missed.
So while I understand time has passed since 2001, in my head Sean Patrick Thomas is not a 55-year-old man with salt and pepper in his hair. In reality, he is a 55-year-old man with salt and pepper hair, but the same 800 kilo-watt smile. Connecting these two mental images was a huge shock to me.
Sometimes I am confronted with my own mortality in ways that stick out like a sore thumb. The last time this happened was when Macaulay Culkin announced he was 40 a few years ago. It’s incomprehensible to realize this much time has passed. You blink and it’s gone forever.
But it’s still very special to be a part of these moments in time. Save the Last Dance was a huge movie in my childhood. It’s right up there with Bring it On, or 10 Things I Hate About You (also starring Stiles) or Mean Girls a little later. It’s nice to also be a part of the Dancing with the Stars fandom this season and to realize so many people also remember going to the theater to see Julia Stiles in this role, and in other roles that really mark a moment of time in our collective memory. Even her other co-star Kerry Washington has seemingly been watching.
After the episode aired, Sean Patrick Thomas took to Instagram where he shared a picture with Stiles and wrote:
My old friend Miss Julia Stiles left no crumbs on that dance floor. Unforgettable night.
For me, too buddy. Just for different reasons. Listen, I get it though. Nostalgia is a powerful driving force behind pop culture. Just ask all those celebrities out there re-championing low-rise jeans.
And if you want to revisit Miss Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas, ABC and Disney currently (and conveniently) have the rights to Save the Last Dance on Hulu, or you can watch it with your Disney+ subscription. You can thank me later.
