L ife for “The Boys” has pretty much gone as planned, says the show’s developer. “We always knew in the broadest possible sense (where we wanted to go,)” says Eric Kripke, the show’s creator and executive producer. “But you want to leave a lot of space because you want the writers to surprise you.
You want the actors to surprise you. It’s a mistake for shows to suffocate themselves with too much mythology.” “The Boys,” however, has always gone against the grain.
Instead of showing superheroes as noble defenders of truth and freedom, it dared to pull off the masks and show them as petty, conniving controllers who hid behind a manufactured image. When Antony Starr — who plays Homelander, leader of The Seven — read the pilot, “I came in without a lot of expectation,” he says. “There was a very broad brushstroke example of what the character is.
There were two scenes — one where he’s a good guy and one where he kills a man. It’s very obvious he’s a person of duality. But we were able to psychologically dig in, go deep with that and create a pretty fleshed-out character.
That’s why people have responded to it.” A hit with superhero fans and others, “The Boys” led to a second series, “Gen V,” that continues the concept. The mothership, however, will end after the fifth season (slated for release in 2026).
“It’ll be sad,” Starr says, “because I love it. I also love this collaboration with Eric. It’s a beautiful bunch of p.
