The visual effects supervisor for The Boys season 3 says that the VFX will be bigger than in previous seasons. Based on the comic series created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys is entering its third season on Amazon Prime. The show has been a massive hit for the streamer, earning six 2021 Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Special Visual Effects and raking in over 8 million viewers in the first 10 days of season one alone.
The Boys focuses on a group of underground vigilantes who battle super-powered beings that they deem are abusing their powers. These "boys" are led by Karl Urban's Billy Butcher, who recruits a number of special individuals to his side, including Jack Quaid's Hughie and Karen Fukuhara's Kimiko to go head-to-head against the Vought superhero team, led by Antony Starr's Homelander. The hyper-violent show will bring in a number of new characters for the new season, including Jensen Ackles as the infamous Soldier Boy.
In an interview with The Wrap, visual effects supervisor Stephan Fleet says that the third season will have "bigger" VFX, but will remain consistent with The Boys' character and story guidelines as "set by the creators of the series." As with most series, the ante is consistently upped as the show continues to grow, both in viewership and in characters/story. The Boys has already employed some large set pieces and VFX, including the utilization of a fake whale carcass in season 2, which made for a very memorable sequence. Read what Fleet had to say about their approach to the bigger effects of the next season below:
“We’re able to take things to a slightly heightened level of reality and absurdity. But it always still works and feels like part of our world. People are smart enough now to cut through the eye candy. They still want something that connects with them like on a soul level, right? That’s what the real gold is.”
The Boys season 3 is expected to take some new twists and turns, including some flashbacks, as the show dives deeper into the Vought-created world of superheroes. With the inclusion of Soldier Boy, a parody of Captain America, there's sure to be the need to make the effects stand out, especially if they explore his supposed WWII roots, as has been teased. Regardless of how the bigger effects are utilized, viewers can rest assured of the same level of quality as in previous seasons. Showrunner Eric Kripke has said that no compromises were made during production of the third season, even as new Covid-19 restrictions made everything more difficult.
Viewers have typically come to expect things to get better with each new season of a show, including VFX, so it makes sense that The Boys season 3 would aim for that. As viewership and ratings increase, so does the budget and expectations. With The Boys being a flagship show for Amazon Prime, it will need to maintain consistency, while pushing the envelope at the same time in order to keep people watching. The Boys is the first non-Netflix show to edge into the Top 10 of Nielsen's ratings, so the pressure is on to keep it in the conversation. Winning a few Emmys sure wouldn't hurt visibility either, but most fans are standing by to hear when the third "bigger" season drops, which is more important than anything.
Source: The Wrap