In this week’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo powers up to take on “The Boys.” The show is premiering its fourth season on Prime Video on June 13th and follows a group of vigilantes who set out to take down corrupt superheroes who abuse their superpowers. The show stars Karl Urban, Antony Starr, Jack Quaid, Erin Moriarty, Chace Crawford, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and more.
Joining Bingeworthy to discuss the hyper-violent, filthy take on superheroes is writer, creator, and showrunner Eric Kripke (“Supernatural,” “Timeless”). During the interview, Kripke discussed this fourth season being the darkest yet, but for a very real reason (and of course, just days after this interview was conducted, Kripke revealed that season five would be the series’ last).
“Look, I’m sad to report that the world is a darker place than it was when we made the last couple of seasons,” Kripke said. “And the show really tries to keep pace with reflecting the world that we’re living in. And so that kind of organically happened. And then we just know every season that we need to get deeper and deeper with our characters. I always say you don’t want to go bigger with this show, you want to go deeper – reveal new facets of their psychology and personality and new revelations. And so the deeper you dig, pretty soon you’re going to get to their core traumas. And this was the season that we just kind of hit that for a lot of them. Many of them are dealing with the things that made them who they are. And that’s inherently just more intense and more dramatic.”
Kripke recently made headlines for telling fans who feel the show is “too woke” to “go watch something else.” Kripke dove deeper into the reasoning behind the show’s lack of subtlety when it comes to the political messaging.
READ MORE: Eric Kripke Says ‘The Boys’ To End After Season 5
“[This season was] a really intentional [warning],” Kripke said. “The writers write whatever scares us or makes us angry at the time we’re writing it. And we were writing this in 2021. And January 6th was still very fresh in everyone’s minds. And I wanted to tell a story and make a point about this polarized culture we’re in, where it’s us versus them and zero-sum games and demonizing the other side. When the truth is that we’re all being manipulated into that position by algorithms and social media and a news culture and billionaires and politicians that want us in that position. Because it’s economically and politically lucrative to them.”
“I have no quarrel with anyone. I happen to be very liberal, but I have no quarrel with anyone who’s on the right,” he continued. “You’re supposed to have different opinions. I just wish everyone would be a little more critical of their leaders because they’re encouraging people to hate their neighbors for their own selfish interests. And I think that’s just really, really wrong. There’s no right or wrong, or there’s no simple answer to complicated questions. It’s all of us pulling together and exchanging ideas. And I just wish there was more of that and less of this false war that they’re saying we’re in that we’re not in— they’re making the whole thing up.”
Fans are constantly asking Kripke when or how the show will ultimately end, but, at least this time, he has no intention of putting a specific number on when the series will end.
“I don’t want to speak to how long I think it should go because I’m one of the assholes who said ‘Supernatural’ should go five years, and so, no one’s ever been more wrong in history than me about how long their show should go,” Kripke joked. “But whenever we get to it, I don’t necessarily know how we get there, but I know where I want every character to end up. It’s like weirdly like, I don’t know the climax, but I know at the very end when you go to like, ‘Six Months Later…’ and you see where everybody is, I know where everybody is, and so then the job will just be how do we back into that?”
So, when that ends is anyone’s guess, but Kripke did share that there are two characters who definitely will not die before the series takes its final bow.
“I don’t know if ‘The Boys’ exists without Butcher and Homelander,” Kripke said. “I think this particular story is about these two unstoppable forces barreling towards each other, and then, sooner or later, they’re going to crash into each other, and everyone’s going to have to deal with that fallout. To me, that’s what this story is about. That’s not to say there can’t be other stories in the universe, but it probably wouldn’t be called ‘The Boys.”
So, what are those spin-offs? “Gen V” and “The Boys: Diabolical” have already begun, but there’s also a spin-off that Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal are developing with Kripke, along with a previously unknown secret spin-off that Kripke let slip.
“There’s one more script that’s in development, but, you know, we’re being pretty close to the vest about what it is. But I love it. And I think it’s really good,” Kripke teased. “And the thing I’m proud of with the stuff we’re doing is everything is so different from the other thing. They’re just radically different shows and the rule has always been – it has to be something that none of the other shows could even think to do. And it has to stand on its own as a great show, even if ‘The Boys’ never existed. And I think [we have] a long way to go with the development that. We’re in [development] both for this one and ‘The Boys: Mexico,’ but I think they’re really promising because I think they’re just really unique, great shows.”
Bingeworthy is part of The Playlist Podcast Network, which includes The Playlist Podcast, Deep Focus, The Discourse and more. We can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, and most places where podcasts are found. You can stream the podcast via the embed within the article or click on the lead image at the top page. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening.
The Playlist Presents – Eric Kripke’s Film & TV Influences for ‘The Boys’ Playlist:
1.) “L.A. Confidential” (1997) – Directed By Curtis Hanson
2.) “The Shield” (2002-2008) – Created By Shawn Ryan
3.) “The Twilight Zone” (1959-1964) – Created By Rod Serling
Listen to the entire interview below: