Diabolical! The Boys to drop a Billy Butcher short film to accompany season 2

The Boys of Amazon's blood-stained superhero satire are too much to handle on their own. So, it makes sense that the streaming platform will give fans too much to handle when the show returns for season 2 this September.

Showrunner Eric Kripke (Supernatural) revealed during a recent interview with Collider that a short film for The Boys centered on Karl Urban's Billy Butcher will drop later this year, "sometime in the middle of the release" of the second season. It will also let the audience know what's been going on with the diabolically smirky character off screen.

In the season 1 finale, Butcher finally confronts Homelander (Antony Starr), only to have the rug pulled out from under him. His wife, Becca (Shantel VanSanten), isn't dead after all. In fact, she's been living somewhere in secret, raising the superhuman son conceived when Homelander raped her.

"As season 2 begins, Butcher is M.I.A. and then shows up," Kripke explains. "In episode 2, we originally shot something that revealed where he went and what his experiences were. But it ultimately didn't end up fitting that well into the episode because it made Butcher's story a lot less mysterious and intriguing, and it slowed down the rhythm."

So, now, all that material will be compiled and released as a short film called Butcher. Kripke calls it "a companion piece." "There are references in the show that won't make sense unless you see this thing," he says.

As for the rest of Team Boys—Hughie (Jack Quaid), Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capon), and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara)—they are now on the run. Yet the job never stops. Vought is looking to capitalize on the nation's growing fear of supervillains, which were only created after Homelander secretly sent the Compound V formula to terrorist groups. Aya Cash will also debut as Stormfront, a new addition to the Seven who shakes up the new story line — and not necessarily in a good way.

The first three episodes of season 2 will premiere on Amazon Prime Video this Sept. 4. From there, new episodes will drop every Friday through Oct. 9.

Related content:

• The Boys season 2 gets September premiere, shifts to weekly schedule
• Stormfront strikes The Boys in exclusive season 2 first look
• The Boys season 2 teaser trailer is bigger, bloodier, more bonkers