If you’re a fan of The Boys on Prime Video, get ready to watch something awesome tomorrow. That’s because Amazon is dropping eight animated shorts set in the world of The Boys that really must be seen to be believed. I don’t want to spoil what the episodes are about, but I promise you none of them hold back on what you’ve come to expect from this twisted series which includes plenty of blood-drenched moments and shocking surprises.
But unlike the regular series, The Boys Presents: Diabolical tells stories involving characters you’ve never seen on the show. In addition, Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, Eric Kripke, and Simon Racioppa invited people like Awkwafina, Garth Ennis, Eliot Glazer, Ilana Glazer, Justin Roiland, Ben Bayouth, Andy Samberg, and Aisha Tyler to contribute to the season, and each brought memorable episodes and something you’re not expecting.
Shortly after watching the season, I spoke with Eric Kripke. He talked about why the season is eight episodes and about twelve minutes each, how the last episode of the season gets into Homelander’s backstory with Noir and it’s considered canon, why Prime Video is waiting to see how the season does before moving forward on Season 2, how they have plenty of ideas ready to go if they’re allowed to make more, and Andy Samberg’s unexpected episode which deals an elderly woman dying of cancer and her husband trying to save her.
Check out what Kripke had to say below. Trust me, you really want to watch these episodes when they start streaming tomorrow.
COLLIDER: I'm going to say congrats on the show. I got a million questions. Do you want to recommend a certain order to watch these in?
ERIC KRIPKE: Yeah, we actually discussed it and the way it'll be released on Amazon, the order with which they'll be released is the order that we recommend they be viewed. It's starting with Laser Babies Day Out and then it goes to Justin Roiland's and then it goes to Garth Ennis and then, you know, kind of keeps going and then wraps out with Simon's take on Homelander, because that felt like the best transition into season three of the show. But to end with a piece that is Canon about Homelander and Noir's relationship, which does become part of the story in season three.
If someone only has the time to watch one episode to sort of taste it, do you recommend they start with the first episode or where do you want them to watch?
KRIPKE: Oh man, I mean I don't know. It's like trying to choose if you only kiss one of your children, which one? And they're all good. I can't answer that question.
How did you guys decide on eight episodes?
KRIPKE: It's just kind of been our magic number because you know, we do eight episodes of The Boys also, we were really rushing. We were really racing the clock to get this out as soon as possible, because animation takes really quite a long time. We started working on all this about a year ago. So, it's a lot of work in a really short period of time and we were just kind of racing to get it all on before Boys season three aired. Doing it at eight episodes at 12 minutes gave us a manageable amount of material that we could get done in the time that we had.
Is this one of these things where behind-the-scenes you're currently working on the next sixteen or the next eight?
KRIPKE: I wish, Amazon wants to see how it does. I hope it does great. I will say that between me and Seth and Evan and the other producer Simon, there is a board that exists with, I think, with 12 very good ideas on it right now that will winnow down to eight. So we actually have the ideas and we know what we want to do, we just need the green light from Amazon to do it.
Was there ever a point where it was going to be 15 or 20 minute episodes? How did you settle on 12 minutes?
KRIPKE: Honestly, we had just said they should be somewhere between 10 and 15 and for some reason or another, they all landed pretty much exactly around like 12, they landed in the middle. We didn't have like that hard of a target where it had to be any specific number. It was just felt like the right length to be able to tell a real story, but not belabor the point, and also give us again a manageable amount of workflow. That was the directive we gave to all the creators and they're all pros. So they know that means a 10 to 15 page script.
And by the way, that was another reason too, because they're all like incredibly busy, really, awesome people that were asking to write a script for us for pretty much no money. So, it helped the medicine go down that it was only a 10 to 15 page script. You can get your head around; I'm going to write you guys a 10 to 15 page script. Like, I could get my head around that but hey, we need you to write me a 30 page script…that starts to get to be a tall order.
You mentioned you have other ideas if you get to continue. The last episode of the first season deals with Homelanders backstory. As you said, it's cannon, are any of the other episodes you're thinking about things that would be cannon, or are they more like the first seven episodes?
KRIPKE: In season two you mean?
Yeah. If you were to get to continue.
KRIPKE: If we were to get a season two, I'm trying to think of something, we've talked about it, we don't have like a specific one yet, but we are talking about doing at least one or two that can really be in the universe of the show rather than these like bizarre universes that it's living in right now.
So it's almost like you could imagine that season two, if you got to continue, maybe one episode would be canon backstory.
KRIPKE: Yeah. Maybe. I mean I think what makes the show great is to never repeat ourselves or fall into a pattern. It almost lives as like an idea incubation lab. Like we're intentionally trying to be as experimental, both in form and content as we possibly can just to see what works. I love meta stuff and I love just trying things, I'm the one who on Supernatural sent my characters to a world where they were, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki making the show supernatural. I get off on like really trying to push at some of the structural boundaries of this stuff in a meta way. So for me, it was the more that we can push, we can push. Like Simon, who's the showrunner, he was like, “Well, why don't we do one as live-action?” I mean, that's insane, but I like love where his head's at, of the minute we get everyone settled with that this is an animated anthology, do one in live-action. Like that's the right, who knows if we'll ever do that, but that is the right spirit of adventure for this particular show.
One of the things that I still can't believe is that Prime Video gives you money to make The Boys and to make this, I think that it's amazing. Have they ever pulled you aside and said, maybe this one is going too far?
KRIPKE: No, I have to say they've been really amazing, they have like particular notes about specific stuff, and I'd be lying if I didn't say they got nervous, on some of the stuff. But I think they really trust us and it helps that the audience is so embraced the total perversity of the two seasons of the show. I think they've gotten much more used to us by now and understand exactly what we bring to the buffet. So they've gotten more comfortable with the crazy shit we're always pitching them.
When I knew Andy Samberg, who I'm a huge fan of was involved, I was excited to see what he would do. And the episode was as completely different as it could have possibly been from Andy. I never would've guessed he wrote that episode. What was it like reading that script for the first time and did you know, that's what he was going to bring you?
KRIPKE: We did because we talked to him beforehand and as we approached every creator, we said, what story are you interested in telling? And in what tone do you want to tell it? We are not going to put any restrictions outside of just kicking around ideas and helping you form them. But otherwise it's your baby and do whatever you want. And so we sat down with Andy expecting like, oh, he is going to pitch something funny. But he pitches this heartbreaking story about a woman, an elderly woman dying of cancer and her husband trying to save her. We all just kind of took a pause and said, that's great. That's amazing. Like that's completely unexpected and beautiful and go run with that story. Because again, we felt really strongly, we were not going to inhibit anyone's creativity or vision for these stories.
Then he delivered this beautiful script. On the page, it was just so emotional and so heartbreaking and so lovely and poetic that we were just thrilled. And yes he's a very funny writer and actor, but you don't get to be a writer at that level without just being a damn good writer. He clearly has the tools in his toolbox to jump genre and write something heartbreaking. I'm just glad we were able to give him the opportunity to do it.
The Boys Presents: Diabolical starts streaming on Prime Video around the world March 4.
