'The Boys' Showrunner Eric Kripke Claims He Lives "In Absolute Terror Of Becoming The Thing We've Been Satirizing For Five Years"
Eric Kripke, the showrunner for Amazon MGM Studios’ The Boys television show, claims he lives “in absolute terror of becoming the thing we’ve been satirizing for five years.”
Speaking with Collider about expanding The Boys universe, Kripke said, “We’re gonna look at the chips we have on the table right now. I live in absolute terror of becoming the thing we’ve been satirizing for five years.”
“The thing about The Boys is that it’s punk rock, and it hurts extra hard when punk rockers sell out . I’m really working hard to not sell out,” he added.
Kripke continued, “We do these shows because we really care about them and we’re passionate about them, and they can tell fresh stories that we can’t tell in The Boys and not just be about rapid expansion but be very careful and mindful about the choices we’re making and being able to defend why we’re making them.”
Next, he reiterated, “I worry about that every single day. I just want people to say, maybe it’s for them and maybe it isn’t for them, but gotta hand it to them, they maintain a consistent level of quality.”
Kripke’s comments come less than six months after he told possible viewers to not watch the show if they believe the show is “woke.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he was asked by Mikey O’Connell about having Homelander be a metaphor for Donald Trump, “How did you digest the uglier reaction to that? I saw multiple headlines with the word ‘woke’ in them.”
Kripke responded, “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. Go watch something else.”
“But I’m certainly not going to pull any punches or apologize for what we’re doing,” he continued. “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.”
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Ironically, when asked whether or not he was influencing people with the show, Kripke said, “It’s catharsis. I have no illusions about my job. I’m somewhere between a carnie and a court jester. I am not particularly up my own ass, so I don’t know if it’ll ever change minds. If it does, that’d be fantastic.”
“Look, I am a big proponent of genre — good genre, which doesn’t get enough respect. Through the metaphor of superheroes or space or whatever, you can say subversive things that you’d never get away with in most straight dramas,” he added.
Finally, Kripke shared the message he wants viewers to take away from the show, “I’m a humanist. I think it’s important that a show have a lot of heart. We took great pains to create the moral universe of this show. It’s not nihilistic, as much as people say it is. If the show had a message, it’s that anyone who stands in front of you and says they can save the world is lying.”
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