The Boys has become a true sensation for Amazon Prime Video. The extremely timely superhero satire series recently launched its second season with the most-watched global launch of any Amazon original series ever. Not only did the adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s cult series from Dynamite Comics get a third season order ahead of season two, but according to Variety, a spinoff of The Boys is now in active development. The show is called Gen V and this one is going to focus on what it’s like for young superpowered people in college.
Gen V‘s Plot
According to the original report, this new spinoff will be set “in America’s only college exclusively for young adult superheroes (or supes) that is run by Vought International.” It will explore the lives of “hormonal, competitive supes as they put their physical, sexual, and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. Part college show, part Hunger Games—with all the heart, satire and raunch of The Boys.”
The Boys Season 3 and Gen V‘s Crossover
As reported by Deadline (via io9), the spinoff found its first lead in Jaz Sinclair. Sinclair, best known for playing Rosalind in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, will headline the series. She will play a college student and superhero named Marie.
For those who don’t want spoilers for The Boys season three, look away now, because an Easter egg from the latest season gives us our first look at Marie in The Boys‘ universe.
As first spotted by Entertainment Weekly, this spin-off tie-in appears in episode two of The Boys. The Red River Institute, which first appeared in a non-canon episode of The Boys Presents: Diabolical, now makes it onto canon. It’s revealed that Congresswoman Victoria Neuman grew up there, along with other child supes that struggle to control their powers because of their age. The organization is ultimately owned by Vought International.
During season three of The Boys, Hughie visits Red River, pretending he’s interested in adopting a child. And thus, he’s shown images of children currently living at the Red River Institute, including Marie. How exactly this Easter egg will tie into The Boys‘ spinoff is still unclear, but it sets up a little bit of Marie’s backstory.
And this is only the beginning of the crossover between the two shows, teases showrunner Eric Kripke. We can expect to see things in the Gen V spinoff happening “in reaction to Season 3 of The Boys… There’s Soldier Boy, etcetera, but also some new storylines that are happening in that season of the spinoff that we have to pick up and take into season four of the show.” It sounds like the spinoff will not only react to the main The Boys universe but also impact its direction.
More About The Boys’ Spinoff Series
In addition to Sinclair, Lizze Broadway, also joins the show as another college student/supe named Emma. Maddie Phillips and Chance Perdomo will appear as well. And after a few shakeups in the cast, Shameless‘ London Thor will also join The Boys‘ spinoff as a lead. According to Deadline, she will replace Reina Hardesty who recently exited from the project. Other newly cast regulars on the series include “Derek Luh (Shining Vale), newcomer Asa Germann and Shelley Conn (Bridgerton).” Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sean Patrick Thomas, and Marco Pigossi have also joined the cast in recurring roles.
Craig Rosenberg was writing the pilot and was set as the series showrunner. Rosenberg departed over “creative differences.” Deadline reported in late September that Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters will executive producer and serve as showrunners for the untitled series. Amazon Studios has formally given a series greenlight, too.
So far on The Boys, we only see brief glimpses of the supes who aren’t members of The Seven. This spinoff will show whether or not all this world’s superheroes are awful. They can’t all be as bad as the likes of Homelander and The Deep, right? The school setting makes it sound like this is a twisted version of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters from X-Men. Hopefully, this new series will maintain the same balance of satire, genuine emotion, and raunchy humor that makes the original series so brilliant.
Originally published on September 24, 2020.
