The Boys examines power and corruption
Superheroes become “rock stars crossed with politicians” in new Amazon Prime series
Amazon Prime Video executives are so convinced their new series “The Boys” will be a hit that a second season has been ordered before Friday’s first season debut.
Based on The New York Times bestselling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the capes-and-criminals series looks at what happens when superheroes become so popular they are treated like gods. Their abuse of power that comes from the hero worship attracts the attention of a group called The Boys, which looks to expose the truth.
Amazon’s show of faith in the project fits with the relationship executive producers Seth Rogen and Eric Kripke have had with the company from the start.
“It has been very different working for them and by-in-large great,” says Kripke, whose other producing credits include “Supernatural” and “Timeless.” “Being able to create something that’s rated R is something that I haven’t been able to do with all my network travels. It seems like it wouldn’t be a big deal, but anyone who knows me knows I have an incredibly dirty sense of humour.”
The freedom the team has had isn’t just to be able to use profanity or show nudity but was necessary to be able to fully present the story Ennis has written. The biggest concern Kripke had starting was that he would be able to properly adapt “The Boys” both because of the quality of the original work along with his love for the property.
This isn’t the first creation by Ennis that has been adapted to a television series but follows in the footsteps of “Preacher.” Seeing his work go from printed page to small screen is something Ennis finds to be fascinating, especially in regards to what is used and what doesn’t make the cut. The one thing Ennis has learned is to treat the original and the adaptation as two separate things because they inevitably will go in different directions.
Ennis started writing “The Boys” at the beginning of 2005 in reaction to what was going on in the world. Although DC Comics cancelled the title after only six issues, Dynamite Comics picked it up and it would run for 72 issues before ending in 2012.
“It was the beginning of the second Bush two administration, and that’s why there is so much in there about corruption, corporate influence on government, abuse of power. Superheroes seemed to be an interesting way to do that,” Ennis says. “I’ve also been fascinated about intelligence agency and what they see as their prevue and their abuse of power, too.
“It seemed to me if superheroes really existed in the real world they would be like rock stars crossed with politicians. They would have the theme and glitz and glamour of rock stars, but they would be having a genuine effect on the world. It seemed to me that effect would be a corporate one because they would be immediately branded and bought.”
“The Boys” is one title in a career of writing comics for Ennis that spans 25 years. His other works include “Hitman,” “Code Pru,” “303,” “Pride and Joy,” “Rover Red Charlie,” “A Train Called Love” and “Red Team.” Kripke had wanted to produce a version of “Preacher” that Ennis wrote but was too late to snag that title.
Ennis knew Kripke would be able to take all the complicated themes in “The Boys” and distil them down into the kind of focus that’s needed for a television series.
“One of the things I think helps about “The Boys’ is that it really is a simple creature. ‘Preacher’ was a peculiar beast you can’t explain in one line,” Ennis says. “With ‘The Boys,’ you can simply say superheroes are bastards. They need a slap. And these are the people who are going to do it.”
The task of telling the irreverent tale in the eight-episode first season of “The Boys” falls to Jack Quaid, Karl Urban, Laz Alonso, Elisabeth Shue, Tomer Capon, Antony Starr, Karen Fukuhara, Erin Moriarty, Chase Crawford, Nathan Mitchell and Simon Pegg.