‘The Boys’ Showrunner Is Terrified The Show Will ‘Sell Out’ And Become Exactly What It Satirizes

On November 20, 2024By Pranco

When “The boys” which premiered several years ago, it was an underdog that focused on satirizing the superhero film genre. It worked because what it did at the time had not been done before. But now, years later, “The Boys” is in danger of becoming the very thing it tried to bring down. And this is something that worries the showrunner, Erik Kripke.

In a new interview with ColliderEric Kripke spoke about his fear that ‘The Boys’ is turning into a major superhero franchise that was originally intended to satirize. How does he think the show can survive the criticism of becoming exactly what it pretended to be all along? With high quality shows.

“I live in absolute fear of becoming the thing we’ve been satirizing for five years,” Kripke said. “The nice thing about ‘The Boys’ is that it’s punk rock, and it hurts even more when punk rockers sell out. I’m working hard not to sell out.”

He continued, “We do these shows because we really care about them and are passionate about them, and they can tell new stories that we can’t tell in ‘The Boys’ and are not just about rapid expansion, but also being very careful. and being aware of the choices we make and being able to defend why we make them. I worry about that every day.”

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For those who don’t watch “The Boys,” the show follows the story of a group of rebels who aim to take down the real-life superheroes of their world. You see, the superheroes of this world are not the lovable heroes who save the day out of the goodness of their hearts. These ‘heroes’ are selfish and work under a large company, Vought. Imagine if the Avengers were real, but actually owned by Disney. It’s something like that.

There’s certainly something to be said about “The Boys” becoming its own superhero franchise, run by a major company. Please note that this is a show that is part of Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. Amazon is quite close in size and ambition to the evil company Vought. Not only that, the show is now starting to make spinoffs and create a connected superhero universe, which is exactly what Marvel and DC want to do. So we have “The Boys,” airing on a major company’s streaming service, with multiple spinoffs already happening. You don’t have to make a big leap to see what Kripke is saying. “The Boys” is in danger of being sold out for good.

Can ‘The Boys’ continue to fight the “sell out” label by producing top-notch storytelling? That’s the big question. From now on it works. Fingers crossed that it continues to work.