Season 2 of Amazon hit ‘The Boys’ finds team on run from law
NEW YORK ( AP) — The upcoming season of “The Boys” has so many surprises, revelations and themes ripped from today’s front pages that some actors are wondering if their show runner has psychic super abilities.
“I don’t know what kind of crystal ball Eric Kripke has … we shot this show last year, July to November. And when this show airs in September, there will be points where you would think we were shooting during quarantine,” said Laz Alonso, who plays Mother’s Milk. “There is so (many) moments of social unrest that hadn’t happened yet that it’s almost eerie.”
Amazon Prime Video’s hit superhero show is hoping to up-the ante of shock, thrill, action — and ultimately success — that it garnered last year during its debut. Although it was one of Prime’s most watched series, it’s no longer a surprise and will now play the role of incumbent hoping to get reelected.
“I was so happy with how season one turned out and to either hit or exceed that bar was really stressful,” said Kripke, known for leading the fantasy drama “Supernatural.” “Where I landed was not to try to go bigger because that’s sort of unsustainable…But instead, try to go deeper and try to create a more intense, more insane, more emotional season.”
Based off the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson from which the show also derives its name, the series follows The Boys, a small group of mercenaries, as they chase a popular and famous ensemble of A-list superheroes called The Seven. The Boys, headed by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), Hughie Campbell ( Jack Quaid) and Alonso are threaded together by their individual vendettas against the “heroes,” but these aren’t the usual squeaky-clean icons found from Marvel or DC Comics.
This (very) gory, not-forkids action show features the superheroes, known as “supes,” as they chase glory often by immoral—and many times illegal—choices. Vought, a powerful and influential company led by CEO Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) is in full control of their images, marketing them to the public while hiding their dirty deeds. It was revealed
that a formula called Compound V is what gives these heroes their powers.
The Seven comprises an extremely diverse set of characters — some from source material, others altered by Kripke — of different ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and political ideologies. Not following the typical good versus evil plots, Kripke’s deeper dives this season include today’s issues of systemic racism and capitalism.
“( In) episode four, there’s an African American teen who gets pulled over by a superhero and it goes poorly,” Kripke said. “I do get asked that question of do we have a crystal ball? And my response is like these were issues a year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, 50 years ago. (They) just happened to be in the front of people’s minds now.”
“It’s really cool to explore very, very real issues from this slightly heightened and sometimes not- soheightened from reality place,” Quaid said. “We don’t have to pretend that the world’s not on fire for our show.”