‘The Boys’ Showrunner Eric Kripke Shrugs Off Criticism That Series Is “Woke”, Tells Unhappy Fans “Go Watch Something Else, But I’m Certainly Not Going To Pull Any Punches Or Apologize”
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke has made it clear that though he is fully aware of the common criticism that the series has gone “woke” with its messaging, he has absolutely zero intention of changing its narrative direction.
Kripke spoke to the topic of The Boys’ political messaging during a recent interview given to The Hollywood Reporter‘s Mikey O’Connell in promotion of the series upcoming fourth season premiere.
Pressed by O’Connell as to whether it was “always” his intent to create such a politically-charged series, Kripke explained, “When Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg] and I took it out to pitch, it was 2016. We just wanted to do a very realistic version of a superhero show, one where superheroes are celebrities behaving badly. Trump was the, “He’s not really getting the nomination, is he?” guy. When he got elected, we had a metaphor that said more about the current world. Suddenly, we were telling a story about the intersection of celebrity and authoritarianism and how social media and entertainment are used to sell fascism. “
“We’re right in the eye of the storm,” he added. “And once we realized that, I just felt an obligation to run in that direction as far as we could.”
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Met with the observation from O’Connell that The Boys regularly presents “parallels to current events”, Kripke then noted that the series’ timely commentary was a actually somewhat of a coincedence, as “It’s happened now almost every season, and we write them sometimes close to two years before they air and again we’ll find that the news is accurately reflecting whatever we’re talking about.”
“It’s not a spoiler to say that first episode [of season four], Homelander [played by Antony Starr] is on trial,” said Kripke. “A big concern is ‘Can you convict someone that powerful of a crime?’ And what does that mean for the various supporters or the people protesting him? Did I know it was going to come out during Trump’s trial? Of course not. But we write what we’re either scared of or pissed off about. Someone asked me last year, about season three, ‘How are you so prescient with cops and over-policing in Black neighborhoods?’ Well, it’s been a problem for over 100 years. It was a problem five years ago, and, unfortunately, it’s going to be a problem five years from now. It’s always the same s–t.”
To this end, O’Connell next asked Kripke as to how he was able to “digest the uglier reaction to that”, particularly in regards to the “multiple headlines” the reporter had personally seen describing the series as “woke”.
In turn, Kripke declared, “I clearly have a perspective, and I’m not shy about putting that perspective in the show.”
“Anyone who wants to call the show ‘woke’ or whatever, that’s OK,” he concluded. “Go watch something else. But I’m certainly not going to pull any punches or apologize for what we’re doing. Some people who watch it think Homelander is the hero. What do you say to that? The show’s many things. Subtle isn’t one of them. So if that’s the message you’re getting from it, I just throw up my hands.”
At current, the fourth season of The Boys is currently set to reunite The Seven on June 13th.
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