Honestly, if you were on the internet in 2019, you probably remember the photo. It was everywhere. Chace Crawford, the guy who spent years playing the pristine Nate Archibald on Gossip Girl, was suddenly standing in a green spandex suit, surrounded by dolphins, looking... well, significantly more "gifted" than anyone expected.
It was a promotional calendar for the Amazon Prime series The Boys. At the time, the show was just starting to find its footing as the ultimate middle finger to the superhero genre. But that single image of Chace as the aquatic hero The Deep almost overshadowed the show's premiere. People were losing their minds. Was it real? Was it a prank? Was it a very aggressive use of shadows?
The Chace Crawford bulge became an overnight meme, a Twitter firestorm, and, as it turns out, the first time Amazon’s legal department had to step in and say, "Hey, maybe that's a bit much."
The Story Behind the Infamous 2020 Calendar
Let’s get the facts straight. Chace Crawford didn't just walk onto set and decide to make the world blush. The whole thing was a calculated, albeit chaotic, piece of character work. In the universe of The Boys, The Deep is a narcissistic, insecure superhero who is basically a walking parody of Aquaman.
When the marketing team decided to release a "The Deep" 2020 calendar, they went full kitsch. We’re talking poses with roses, smoldering looks over the shoulder—the whole nine yards. Chace actually thought the calendar was going to feature the whole cast. He didn't realize until he was flipping through the pages that it was just him, month after month, in various states of maritime absurdity.
"I died laughing," Crawford told Entertainment Weekly. "It’s obviously in character and it’s amazingly cheesy and really funny. We really went for it."
✨ Don't miss: Bea Alonzo and Boyfriend Vincent Co: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes
But "going for it" meant more than just a funny pose. To really drive home the joke that The Deep was "comically, genetically blessed," Crawford actually wore a prosthetic under that skin-tight green suit. It wasn't just a trick of the light. It was a physical prop designed to be ridiculous.
Why Amazon Forced the CGI "Reduction"
Here is where the story gets even weirder. While the internet was having a field day with the promo images, the executives at Amazon were apparently not as amused. Or, at the very least, they were worried about the show's rating and brand.
Showrunner Eric Kripke has been very vocal about the fact that Amazon usually gives the show a lot of creative freedom. They let them do some truly gnarly stuff—gills, exploding whales, you name it. But when it came to the Chace Crawford bulge, they finally drew a line.
Kripke recalled that the first-ever note he got from the higher-ups was basically: That can't happen. We've got to take that out.
So, believe it or not, a portion of the show's massive CGI budget was spent on "downsizing" Chace Crawford's crotch in post-production. While they were busy making Homelander fly and A-Train run at supersonic speeds, digital artists were also carefully smoothing out The Deep's spandex. It’s a hilarious bit of meta-commentary, especially when you consider that fans noticed the "smoothed" versions in the show compared to the raw, unedited calendar photos that had already leaked to the press.
🔗 Read more: What Really Happened With Dane Witherspoon: His Life and Passing Explained
A Career Rebrand in Spandex
It’s easy to look at this as just another viral celebrity moment, but for Chace, it actually marked a turning point. For years after Gossip Girl ended, he’s admitted to feeling like he was in "the wilderness." He was the "CW pretty boy." No one was taking him seriously for grittier roles because he was boxed in by that Nate Archibald image.
The Deep changed everything. By leaning into the absurdity—bulge and all—he showed he had a self-deprecating sense of humor and some serious acting chops. He turned a character who is essentially a pathetic villain into someone you can't stop watching.
Why it Still Matters Today
In 2026, we’ve seen countless "viral" moments come and go, but this one stuck because it was authentic to the show’s brand. It wasn't a PR mistake; it was a deliberate choice by the creators to poke fun at how we sexualize superheroes.
When you look back at the timeline of The Boys, that calendar photo was the moment many people realized the show wasn't going to be a standard Marvel clone. It was going to be weird, uncomfortable, and unapologetically loud.
What Most People Get Wrong
People still argue over whether the "original" was real. Let's be clear: Chace is a fit guy, but the version seen in that March 2020 calendar page was a prosthetic. It was a gag. The fact that people still debate it today is a testament to how well the costume department—and Chace’s performance—sold the bit.
💡 You might also like: Why Taylor Swift People Mag Covers Actually Define Her Career Eras
If you’re looking to understand the impact of this moment, think about these three things:
- The Marketing Shift: It proved that "thirst trap" marketing could be used ironically to build a brand for a dark satire.
- The CGI Cost: It remains one of the few times in television history where a studio spent thousands of dollars to reduce a character's anatomy rather than enhance it.
- The DMs: Chace has joked that his inbox was never the same after that photo dropped. He received plenty of "weird love," as he calls it, but he’s always handled it with a laugh.
The legacy of the Chace Crawford bulge isn't just about a funny photo; it's about an actor successfully blowing up his old image to create something much more interesting.
If you want to see the "edited" version in action, you can still find every season of The Boys on Amazon Prime. Just keep an eye out for the green suit—now you know exactly how much digital work went into making it look "normal."
Check out the latest behind-the-scenes interviews with the costume designers if you want to see just how much effort goes into those supersuits—it’s a lot more than just spandex and padding.