Urban as Billy Butcher – Courtesy Amazon Studios(NEW YORK) — (NOTE LANGUAGE, CONTENT) The Boys, Amazon’s skewed superhero show, is about to go where only the Garth Ennis’ original graphic novel dared — a storyline called “Herogasm.”
To put it as delicately as possible, the storyline has Homelander telling the public that he and the world’s other super-powered people have to leave earth for a mission in space, when in reality, they head to a deserted tropical island for a supes-only, super-hedonistic getaway. Typical Homelander.
The series’ executive producer and head writer Eric Kripke confessed on a Reddit AMA he’d been “dared” to do that particular episode from the start, but struggled with how to bring it to TV “…so it’s not just an hour of hardcore porn.”
However, he recently tweeted a picture of an upcoming 3rd season script of that very show.
Kripke and co-producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are expert at pushing the show’s limits just far enough, says Karl Urban, who plays Homelander’s nemesis Billy Butcher.
“The graphic novel for The Boys is… a lot more graphic and a lot more dark,” he tells ABC Audio. “And I think that [they]…did a wonderful job of taking the very essence of [the material] and done so in a way to make sure it didn’t lose its original impact, but yet was more digestible.”
Antony Starr, who plays Homelander, agreed. “Even as an adult…I was still a little shocked at the content in the comics,” he laughed to ABC Audio.
“It was: ‘Whoa’ – that’s quite full on!’ I mean…if you just shot what was in the comics, nobody could air it…”
“…[W]hat the show has done is take the structure and the spirit of the comics, but maybe trim some of the excesses and made it possible to screen.”
By Stephen Iervolino
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