The Boys with Eric Kripke

4 snips

Dec 11, 2024

Eric Kripke, creator of the hit series The Boys and Supernatural, delves into the darkly comedic world of his superhero saga. He discusses the show's sharp commentary on both superhero culture and contemporary American politics, reflecting the nation’s divided landscape. Kripke reveals the unique challenges of crafting a satisfying conclusion for beloved characters like Billy Butcher and Hughie Campbell, while navigating the expectations of fans. Expect insights on adapting comic narratives, societal themes, and the peculiarities of his outrageous storylines.

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ADVICE

Structuring a Five-Season Show

View a five-season show as a three-act movie.
The first season sets up stakes, the next two build, and the fourth ends act two.

INSIGHT

Importance of the Series Finale

Few series finales are truly great; most are poorly received.
View the finale as the lasting impression, like a final taste or musical note.

INSIGHT

The Dual Nature of Superheroes

Superheroes as fictional beings can be positive and inspiring.
Placing them in the real world, however, creates potential dangers.

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Never meet your heroes. At least, not these ones – the dysfunctional megalomaniacs that murder innocents and seed division in Prime Video’s The Boys, a show as satirically sharp as it is gore-splattered and gross. Created by our guest today, Eric Kripke, the comic book adaptation debuted in 2019 and has since become one of the most captivatingly timely stories in our pop culture landscape, commenting not just on our current era of superhero saturation but on American society at large. Across four seasons, it’s become a funhouse reflection of the way DC and Marvel movies are content machines with often jingoistic messages at their core. It’s mirrored the nation’s split into two furiously opposed political camps: Homelanders versus Starlighters in the case of the show; MAGA versus liberals in real-life. And along the way, it’s done things never seen on TV before. Octopus beastiality. Super-powered sheep. A guy called "Herogasm" whose name kinda says it all. The list goes on.

All of which begs the question: with The Boys’ final season approaching and America currently reeling from another dramatic election, how will the tale of Billy Butcher, Hughie Campbell and co end? It’s a question Eric, previously best known for creating the long-running series Supernatural, has been wrestling with himself. In the wide-ranging conversation you’re about to hear, he’s honest about the difficulty of “landing the plane” when it comes to beloved TV dramas. And as fans of The Boys know all too well, planes don’t often land in this show, so much as they have a habit of exploding in the sky in a fury of laser vision.

We talk about the psychology of superheroes – why they continue to appeal, what fantasy they offer audiences in a post-9/11 world. We talk about the story choices in season four, and how they came to be, such as Homelander’s rise to near-presidential power. And you’ll hear whether season five of this show that’s dovetailed through the years with real-life events in American politics, will respond to the fact that Donald Trump has just entered the Oval Office again.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Instagram, or email us on thescriptapartpodcast@gmail.com.

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft, FILMD and WeScreenplay.

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