The first season of the American satirical superhero television series The Boys, the first series in the franchise based on the comic book series of the same name written by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, was developed for television by American writer and television producer Eric Kripke. The season was produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios in association with Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, Kripke Enterprises, Kickstart Entertainment and KFL Nightsky Productions.
The show's first season stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Kapon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, and Elisabeth Shue. The story takes place in a universe where most of the superpowered individuals are recognized as superheroes, but in reality abuse their powers for personal gain, information the public is kept unaware of. The series follows the eponymous Boys, led by Billy Butcher, a group of vigilantes looking to bring down Vought International and expose its corrupt superheroes. When his girlfriend is accidentally killed by A-Train, Hughie Campbell joins the Boys to get revenge against the Seven. Meanwhile, Annie January / Starlight is forced to face the truth about those she admires, after she joins the Seven, led by Homelander. The Boys attempt to stop Vought from receiving government support for superheroes by uncovering the company's secrets. When Hughie and Annie begin a romantic relationship, the conflict is muddled despite the two of them initially being unaware of each other's affiliations.
The season premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on July 26, 2019, with all eight episodes being released in a single day. It became the most watched series released by Prime Video at the time of its release, having managed to attract a wide audience that led to a high viewership. The season received largely positive reviews from critics and audiences, praise towards its social commentary, faithfulness to the source material and performances (particularly Urban, Quaid and Starr). The series was renewed for a second season on July 19, 2019.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main
Karl Urban as William "Billy" Butcher Jack Quaid as Hugh "Hughie" Campbell Jr. Antony Starr as John Gillman / Homelander Erin Moriarty as Annie January / Starlight Dominique McElligott as Maggie Shaw / Queen Maeve Jessie T. Usher as Reggie Franklin / A-Train Laz Alonso as Marvin T. "Mother's" Milk / M.M. Chace Crawford as Kevin Kohler / the Deep Tomer Capon as Serge Les Saintes / Frenchie Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro / the Female Nathan Mitchell as Earving / Black Noir Elisabeth Shue as Madelyn Stillwell
Recurring Simon Pegg as Hugh Campbell Sr. Alex Hassell as Translucent Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett Shaun Benson as Ezekiel Ann Cusack as Donna January Jess Salgueiro as Robin Ward Jennifer Esposito as Susan Raynor Jordana Lajoie as Cherie Mishka Thébaud as Shockwave Malcolm Barrett as Seth Reed Christian Keyes as Nathan Franklin Brittany Allen as Charlotte / Popclaw Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher
Guest Giancarlo Esposito as Stan Edgar Nicola Correia-Damude as Elena Laila Robins as Grace Mallory Haley Joel Osment as Charles / Mesmer Dan Darin-Zanco as Doppelganger David Reale as Evan Lambert Débora Demestre as Isadora Brit Morgan as Rachel Saunders Jackie Tohn as Courtenay Fortney John Doman as Jonah Vogelbaum Alvina August as Monique Brendan Beiser as Jeff Nalini Ingrita as Janine Krishan Dutt as Naqib Jim Beaver as Robert "Bob" Singer David Andrews as Steve Calhoun
Cameos Billy Zane appeared as a character in the Popclaw film Terminal Beauty in the episode "Good for the Soul" and as himself at a comic convention in the episode "The Innocents" respectively. Jimmy Fallon hosted his talk show in the episode "The Name of the Game" where he interviewed Translucent. Mike Massaro portrayed an ESPN interviewer for the episodes "Cherry" and "Get Some" Seth Rogen and Tara Reid appeared as themselves in comic convention interviews for the episode "The Innocents".
Production
Development On April 6, 2016, it was announced that a television adaptation for the Garth Ennis comic book series The Boys was in active development by Cinemax, after the original plans for a film adaptation were abandoned due to creative differences between the studios and the creative department behind the film. While they were working for the series Preacher (also based on a comic book series written by Ennis), Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen were recruited to work for the series as the executive producers and directors for the pilot episode. Eric Kripke, a longtime fan of Ennis' work, was angered over not being approached to work for the television adaptation of Preacher, something he told to Rogen and Golberg during a meeting with them. When the duo told him about the project, Kripke accepted, and was hired as the showrunner and head writer of the series. The confirmed production companies to be involved with the series were Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, and Sony Pictures Television.
The production costs for the series exceeded expectations, leading Cinemax to deem it too costly to proceed. Rather than cancel the series or seek a new creative team, Rogen, Goldberg, and Kripke were granted permission to find a new distributor. In November 2017, Amazon acquired the rights to adapt "The Boys" into a television series, aiming to create a hit drama and broaden its audience. That same month, Amazon announced that the first season would consist of eight episodes, each costing over $11.2 million, with production expected to begin in spring 2018 for a planned 2019 release. The original creative team from Cinemax remained attached to the project. In April 2018, Dan Trachtenberg was hired to direct the first episode, replacing Rogen and Goldberg. Kripke, Goldberg, Rogen, Neal H. Moritz, Pavun Shetty, Ori Marmur, James Weaver, Ken Levin, and Jason Netter were confirmed as executive producers. Ennis and Darick Robertson were brought on as co-executive producers.
Writing The Boys takes place in a universe where the superheroes are interpreted as corrupt celebrities who abuse their powers. Kripke wanted to explore how these heroes would be portrayed in real life, leading to several discussions of how to deconstruct the old myth of superheroes. He has admitted to being a fan of Marvel, but believes that the old superhero myth portrayed in the comics and films would not happen in the real world as he considers that the people are selfish, believing that a person won't do something noble once it suddenly gains superpowers. As a long time fan of Garth Ennis, Kripke began to read and follow the artist's work during his college years including the comic book series The Boys. However he didn't intend to write the series exactly as the comics, feeling that it would be disastrous, leading him to make some changes to the series. The writers agreed that they needed to adjust the characters to fit the story, so long as they were complex and recognizable. In order to balance the show's satire and superhero tropes, Kripke explained: "We let any comedy or absurdity emerge out of the natural contradictions of putting a fantasy element in the real world. And so when those people have to take shits and go get tacos, it just gets funny."
As the comic-book series portrays many of the key events from the storyline in a very graphic way, Kripke realized that many of them would be hard to adapt due to the MeToo movement. However he understood that it was important to adapt some of them as like what on the comics did, the series would be pushing the boundaries, for which he decided to adapt controversial scenes that would be relevant for the show while the others that weren't would not be adapted. Kripke considered that for the series it would be important to create a similar world that would the society that lives during these days, for which he decided to adapt the superheroes by combining the worst of the celebrities and politicians something that he considered to be a crazy idea that would show "how f—ed we would all, as regular people, be" with such a combination. As the season deals with corruption and the abuse of power that several superheroes commit as the story progresses, the writers were given the freedom to adapt the series faithfully to the comics as they considered that it was the only way to properly adapt the story they were trying to tell. Ennis admitted that he knew that the series would take a different direction from the comics as Kripke had different intentions over how to adapt the storyline, though he considers that the latter was the right guy to take the comic's complex themes to the small screen. The season also develops the relationship between Hughie and Annie and its progress as the series progresses. Kripke considered to adapt this right as he sees the romantic relationship of the characters to be the emotional core to ensure that the viewers begin to care and worry about the characters and to show how much heart the series was given.
The season does not fully follow the storyline from the comic book series despite its faithfulness to the source material, as Kripke maintained the writers disciplined with the intention of retaining the show with a sense of reality by saying: "Anything that comes out of this drug is viable, and anything that doesn't we're not allowed to do". In order to keep the realism that he wanted to capture for the series, Kripke decided to replace some of the characters of the comics that he considered too fantastical to be adapted with new characters exclusively created for the series. However, these changes weren't only made to keep the realism of the series as Kripke revealed that the changes were also to adapt series in the modern times. This change was done as Kripke considered that the original material from the comics would not be possible to adapt it to the series, due to the comics taking place in the 2000s with the first comic of The Boys being launched in 2006 stating: "There's been more than one situation where we've come up with a scene or storyline in the writer's room and then something happened in reality that was crazier than the story we were pitching. So, we've had to erase stories ’cause reality outdid us in how insane things are."
Casting In December 2017, it was announced that Erin Moriarty was cast as Annie January / Starlight. By January 2018, Antony Starr, Dominique McElligott, Chace Crawford, Jessie Usher, and Nathan Mitchell joined the main cast as Homelander, Queen Maeve, The Deep, A-Train, and Black Noir respectively, while Laz Alonso, Jack Quaid, and Karen Fukuhara were cast the following month as Mother's Milk, Hughie Campbell, and Kimiko Miyashiro / The Female respectively. That April, it was confirmed that Karl Urban had been cast in the series' lead role of Billy Butcher. In May 2018, it was announced that Elisabeth Shue had been cast with the role of Madelyn Stillwell, while Tomer Kapon confirmed that he joined the cast in the role of Frenchie the next month. By the end of August, Jennifer Esposito revealed that she was cast for the role of CIA Agent Susan Raynor.
In October 2018, it was announced during the annual New York Comic Con that Simon Pegg had been cast in the role of Hughie Campbell's father. According to the artist Robertson, Hughie was drawn in the comics to resemble Pegg after he saw Pegg in the sitcom Spaced, but Pegg thought he was too old to play the role of Hughie in the TV series. Alex Hassell also made an appearance in the series as a guest actor, appearing as Translucent. Giancarlo Esposito made a guest appearance in the season finale as Vought International CEO, Stan Edgar. Haley Joel Osment also joined the cast in a recurring role, as the retired superhero Mesmer.