The Boys has easily proven to be one of the biggest hits from Prime Video with multiple spinoffs either happening or in the works. With a colorful cast of characters, including Billy Butcher, Homelander, and The Deep, The Boys has been a massive achievement for Amazon Prime in the arena of producing original streaming content.
With two seasons already available to stream on Amazon Prime, along with a new spin-off titled The Boys Presents: Diabolical, and a third season ready to launch this coming June, the universe of The Boys is only set to get bigger. Before returning to the profanity-laden world of Billy Butcher, take some time to learn some of the more interesting things about one of Amazon Prime’s most successful shows to date.
Famous Family
One of the core members of the titular Boys is all-around nice guy Hughie Campbell Jr. Being the moral compass of the group, and keeping leader Billy Butcher on a “relative” path of righteousness, Hughie, along with Starlight, is the emotional heart of the show. One thing that fans may not know is that Hughie, played by Jack Quaid, has famous parents with Hollywood lineage.
Jack Quaid is the son of famous Hollywood actors Denis Quaid and Meg Ryan. First appearing on screen in 2012’s The Hunger Games, The Boys proved to be Quaid’s breakout role in Hollywood. The actor is due to appear in Chris Nolan’s star-studded biographical drama Oppenheimer, set to release in 2023.
An Original Member Of The Seven Was Replaced
The central superhero team that appears at the beginning of The Boys essentially serves as a parody of the iconic DC Justice League. With Homelander taking the place of Superman, Queen Maeve/Wonder Woman, Black Noir/Batman, The Deep/Aquaman, and A-Train/Flash. The Seven is an almost perfect member for a member mock-up of the Justice League.
The other member of the team that appears at the beginning of season one (before he meets an untimely and gruesome ending) is Translucent. However, if the show had followed the comic book series more closely, the other member of the Seven would have been Jack from Jupiter, a parody of one of the Justice League’s founding members Martian Manhunter. That character never appeared in the live-action show but did make an appearance in the episode “I’m Your Pusher” from the animated spin-off The Boys Presents: Diabolical.
Hughie Was Designed To Look Like Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg plays the lovable father to Jack Quaid’s Hughie in the first season of The Boys. While the character did not appear in the second series, Pegg did return to The Boys universe to voice Hughie in the animated spin-off The Boys Presents: Diabolical. What fans may not know is that the character of Hughie was originally drawn to bear a resemblance to the iconic star of The Cornetto Trilogy.
While Hughie in comic book form visually represents Simon Pegg, when the time came to cast the character for a live-action version of the comic book Pegg was far too old to play the role.
Seth Rogan & Evan Goldberg Were Originally Set To Direct The Pilot
Seth Rogan and his long-time collaborator Evan Goldberg serve as executive producers on The Boys, but they were originally set to direct the pilot as well. However, due to scheduling conflicts (via SlashFilm), the pair were forced to drop out, leaving the directing duties to 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg.
Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, who've worked together on several movies and television shows, are still involved in the series at Amazon Prime, and even wrote the first episode of The Boys Presents: Diabolical “Laser Baby Day’s Out”. Whether or not the pair return to direct in the show’s upcoming third season is up in the air at this point.
Queen Maeve’s Name Comes From Irish Mythology
Queen Maeve is designed to be a pastiche of DC’s Wonder Woman. Her battle armor, visual style, and positioning as a feminist icon in the show are designed to mimic the iconic Amazonian Diana Prince. Interestingly, her name is a reference to a legendary queen from Irish mythology.
Queen Medb (often anglicized to Maeve in English) of Connaught is a key figure in Irish mythology, famous for instigating the fabled Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), often referred to as the Irish Iliad. It’s also noteworthy that Dominique McElligott who portrays Queen Maeve in The Boys is actually from Ireland.
A Cut Season 1 Scene Reappeared In Season 2
The Boys contains a lot of material that could be deemed too violent or risqué. Fortunately, the show is on Amazon Prime, which, along with other streaming services, is much looser with the kind of content they permit on their platform in contrast to a traditional network. Despite this, there was one scene from season 1 that Amazon shot down from showrunner Eric Kripke.
In an interview with The Wrap, Kripke confirmed that the infamous final Homelander masturbation scene from the end of season two was shot for season one until it was pulled at the request of Amazon. Kripke was able to get the scene reinserted into season two after the Amazon execs altered their position on the scene.
Homage To Zack Synder's Justice League Art Style
The Boys is a clear parody and pastiche of superhero characters, tropes, and conventions that have a long history in comic books, television, and movies. The central superhero team the Seven, which features Homelander as evil and twisted version of Superman, takes clear inspiration in the visual look for the team from the cinematic styling of Zack Synder.
Famous for rebooting the Superman character in 2013's Man of Steel, Zack Synder's muted color palette and murkiness are heavily referenced in the costumes for the superhero characters, with Queen Maeve's battle armor mimicking the Gal Gadot Wonder Woman armor almost exactly. Promotional art for The Boys featuring the Seven also references the character posters for Zack Synder's Justice League.
A Movie Adaptation Almost Happened
The Boys works perfectly as a television show. Allowing time to properly develop the superhero and humans on the show has enabled The Boys to create a rich tapestry of complex characters, something that likely wouldn't have been possible in a feature film. At one point in time though, there were plans to adapt The Boys comic book into a live-action feature film.
Columbia, the Sony-owned studio, had originally planned to turn the edgy comic series into a movie, with scripts being written as early as 2009. By 2012 (via THR), the project was dropped by the studio, and wouldn't be revived again until 2016 when work on The Boys for Amazon Prime eventually began.