With AMC's Preacher wrapping up its wild Season 2 run, our televisions will temporarily be without any comic book shows that were co-created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. But that could all change soon, as the duo'slong-gestating live-action adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robinson's dark and superpowered comic series The Boys, which also has Supernatural creator Eric Kripke on the creative team, has potentially secured its future at a new home: Amazon.
At this point, things still aren't set in concrete, but Amazon did put in a script order for The Boys, and Variety is saying that the action-packed drama is being eyed for a straight-to-series order. So assuming that script is a polished piece of art, we might very likely be streaming The Boys by this time next year. No pilot is necessary, really, since Amazon execs need only look at Preacher's series premiere to get a sense of how screenwriter Eric Kripke would bring the script to life, as well as how Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg would take on the directorial duties. After all, Preacher is also a Garth Ennis title, and even though the two titles don't have much in common by way of subject matter, it's all about nailing the tone.
This news is pretty surprising, since The Boys was initially set up last year to become another comic book series for premium cabler Cinemax, which also has Robert Kirkman's Outcast on the schedule. But something apparently went screwy there, since it's now apparently heading to the streaming-only world of Amazon, where fellow comic book hero The Tick recently debuted his own (rebooted) TV show. That switch should be just as exciting for fans, since Amazon is just as likely as Cinemax to let Seth Rogen & Co. get real with the NSFW material. (We probably shouldn't ever expect Rogen to hop on to any non-NSFW comic projects from mainstream studios like Marvel.)
First published in 2006 -- initially through DC imprint Wildstorm, though it soon moved to the less constricting Dynamite Entertainment -- The Boys is set in a world where superheroes not only exist, but they're held in the same sights as celebrities, and many of them get into situations that threaten the very world they're aiming to protect. (And in some pretty disturbing and disgusting ways, too.) As such, a middleman group is formed by the CIA, dubbed The Boys, whose uniquely monikered members are tasked with keeping an eye on the power-filled community, especially the supergroup The Seven. There's Mother's Milk, Billy Butcher, The Female, The Frenchman and Wee Hughie, with the latter inspiring tons of fans to call for Simon Pegg to take the role in any live-action format that happened. (He's since said he's probably too old now for the role.)
The Boys ended its run in 2012 after 72 issues, but it was originally going to be a film from director Adam McKay, who got involved back in 2010. The project started up at Columbia Pictures, which later backed off of its option, which was then picked up by Paramount, who apparently also lost touch along the way. The potential Amazon series is being produced through Sony Pictures TV.
While we're waiting to hear about The Boys' future, don't forget to tune into AMC on Monday, September 11, for the shocking Season 2 finale for Preacher, which airs at 9:00 p.m. ET. And to see everything else coming to primetime and beyond soon, head to our fall premiere schedule.
