‘The Boys’ showrunner explains how animated spinoff ‘Diabolical’ came to be

Diabolical, an animated anthology series set in the fictional universe of The Boys, is just on the streaming horizon. In a chat with Variety to promote the new show, executive producer Eric Kripke explains how the idea for an animated spinoff formed in the first place.

You would not think of The Boys as a television series that holds back or sugarcoats sensitive content in any way. That being said, if you think that’s as far as the writers can go in terms of undermining every rule in the book and breaking apart all social norms, you’re in for quite a surprise when you see just how unhinged Diabolical is.

Early reviews for the animated series have called it a brutal, gratuitous, and vulgar take on The Boys comic books, though one that retains all the fun from the original series and delivers even more on that front. That’s a sentiment echoed by Kripke, who helped produce the series along with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

“We can try things with these and be completely nuts with form and different style,” He told Variety. “I love that s––t for being able to really hopscotch and have radically different styles and just try things that are the craziest things we possibly can — even a little too crazy for the show because it’s animation and you can take it so much further with animation than you can with live-action. That part has been a blast. We look at it like, what ideas can we get out of it and how far can we push this whole universe? I think the animated version gives us a chance to do that.”

Kripke also discussed how the idea for the show formed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, what he refers to as a beginning for the “Vought Cinematic Universe.”

“We were deep in the pandemic and we were looking to get something from what we’re calling the VCU (Vought Cinematic Universe) on the air go before season three,” He explained. “And with all the shooting restrictions, it was just impossible to even do a small live-action thing. So we started talking about doing something animated. Even during Season 1, I’ve always loved the idea of doing some animated stuff with The Boys. I’ve always wanted to do a 70s-style ‘Super Friends’ with The Seven. It’s really exciting because it works as an idea lab for the show and all the crazy ideas that don’t quite fit in episodes or don’t quite stretch out to make their own 60 minutes.”

The Boys Presents: Diabolical premieres tomorrow on Amazon Prime Video.