We’re just weeks away from Amazon debuting the second season of The Boys, and based on how the first run of episodes captured the imagination to become one of the streaming service’s most popular shows, expectations are through the roof for what has to be one of the year’s most highly-anticipated small screen projects.
The dark and subversive comic book adaptation has never exactly been renowned for subtlety, and if the most recent trailers are anything to go by, then Billy Butcher and the gang’s latest adventure will make the first season look like a quaint and intimate drama by comparison. Everyone involved has promised that The Boys is coming back bigger, badder, crazier and better than ever before, but showrunner Erik Kripke also hopes to make some timely comments on the society we live in alongside the insane amounts of violence and bloodshed.
In a recent interview, Kripke admitted that he’s looking to shine a light on the topical issues that have been dominating the headlines recently, without losing sight of the show’s core appeal as an over-the-top and gruesome spin on the standard superhero story.
“We were really interested in exploring the idea of authority figures getting the public really riled up with xenophobia and racism, but ultimately the most dangerous people are the white dudes standing next to you. We wanted to reflect that story. So, the supervillains are, in a way, a misdirect… But where the idea emerged, and without spoiling too much, what I’ll say is under the writer room mantra of ‘bad for the world, good for the show’, we’re all news junkies, and we tend to pay attention to things that are happening out there in the world, and how do we use our superheroes as a metaphor for that? And I am horrified and sad to report that there is a rise of white nationalism.”
While Kripke makes it clear that there will be some pretty heavy political subtext running through the second season of The Boys, based on what we know so far, it isn’t like the series will be abandoning the ultra-violence and jet-black humor that made it such a huge hit in the first place. The best shows manage to balance big ideas and themes with enough spectacle and excitement to keep the audience engaged without bashing them over the head with the message, and all signs point to The Boys pulling off such a delicate balancing act in suitably spectacular fashion.
