The Boys‘ first two seasons were massive hits for Amazon Prime and picked up six Emmy nominations, making it one of the biggest shows in the streaming world. As such, all eyes are on the hotly anticipated third season, which is now shooting in Toronto and will air in 2022. After the cliffhanger of the season two closer, we have a decent idea where we’re going next, with Aya Cash and Shawn Ashmore returning as Stormfront and Lamplighter respectively.
But it seems the spotlight will be on Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, who’s effectively The Boys‘ equivalent of Captain America. Creator and showrunner Eric Kripke explained in a new interview with Vanity Fair that the team want to dig deep into the history of the show’s world, the dark secrets of Vought International, and that Soldier Boy is the vehicle to do it through:
“Season 3 delves a lot more into the history of how we got here through this character of Soldier Boy. We were able to dig into both the history of the country and also really look at toxic masculinity, and masculine roles, and what a shit-show that’s overall caused. This whole fucking, independent Marlboro man thing.”
The interview also revealed that the Supernatural star wasn’t considered for the part when they were writing him, with Kripke originally envisaging a more mature actor:
“We had written Soldier Boy long before I cast Jensen. The majority of the guys we were looking at for that part were actually quite older than Jensen. Because it’s a World War II hero. He happened to call me and we were just chatting and I’m like, ‘Well I’m prepping season 3 of the show, and I have this character Soldier Boy, and it was a real pain to cast, and I haven’t really found anyone. Hey, wait a minute, do you want to do it?’ I sent him the script, and he’s like, ‘Oh my God, I totally want to do this.'”
We got our first look at Ackles in costume back in June, with his outfit heavily influenced by Steve Rogers’ in The First Avenger. Let’s hope he lives up to the hype.
Beyond this, Kripke has teased that the upcoming season will finally do the “Herogasm” arc (in which the heroes fake an extraterrestrial threat as an excuse to have a wild orgy) and will push the boundaries of what can be done in a TV show. He also went on to explain some of the show’s ethos, summing it up nicely by saying:
“You should be extremely skeptical and suspicious of anyone who stands in front of you and says: I am your hero and I’m here to save you. That person is selling you something. So being able to discuss all of that, I think, is really important. “
The Boys is expected to air on Amazon Prime in 2022.
