The Boys TV show, currently in its fourth season, has become a massive hit for Prime Video, with a fifth and final season already confirmed. Additionally, there are plans for a second season of the spin-off Gen V and The Boys: Mexico in the works. However, a recent report reveals that the popular TV series almost took a different path and was almost turned into a movie trilogy.
According to a Rolling Stone article that hails The Boys as “secretly the best show on television,” the comic book series that exposes the dark side of superheroes was initially considered for a film trilogy directed by Adam McKay. The rights to the property were acquired by Sony in 2008 after Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, now executive producers of the TV series, presented the first issue of the comic book to the studio. Rogen recalled their excitement, saying, “We were like, ‘Holy shit, this is fucking crazy. And that week we went to Sony and we’re like, ‘You guys should make this.’”
Director McKay, known for films like The Big Short and Don’t Look Up, envisioned a trilogy of films to fully capture the story of Butcher, Homelander, and the rest of the characters. The first film even had a finished screenplay and demo animatics of scenes. However, the timing wasn’t right in 2008, as the superhero genre was just beginning to take over cinemas with movies like Iron Man and The Dark Knight. Darick Robertson, the co-creator of The Boys, acknowledged that the world wasn’t ready for the adaptation at that time.
Despite the missed opportunity for a movie trilogy, Robertson harbors no resentment towards Sony, stating, “I wouldn’t change how it worked out, because the show is amazing. But [McKay] was doing really cool stuff.” The Boys season four is currently available for streaming on Prime Video, providing fans with their fix of anti-superhero action.
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