The Boys Creator Says Prime Video “Has Literally Never Said No”

The Boys doesn’t hold back by any stretch of the imagination. The Prime Video hit is packed to the brim with gore, potty mouths, nudity, and the like. Really, it’s about as R-rated as something can get. Even then, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke tells us the streamer has never told him no, nor has the platform made he and his writers change the content of the series.

“Prime Video has literally never said no,” the writer says. But that said, I think the writers do an incredible amount of self-policing, believe it or not.”

Prime recently released the first three episodes of the season, which include some of the most brutal moments in the show’s history. Still, Kripke adds the the writer’s room continually discusses where that line really resides, and they tone it down as appropriate. In fact, the writer says there’s a sense of anxiety in the room when juggling the show’s tone and themes it deals with to make sure nothing goes too far.

“We really agonize over where’s the line, because we never want to cross the line from outrageous into gratuitous or exploitive, or cheap or shocking for shocking sake,” Kripke adds. “There’s an incredible amount of anxiety, and hand wringing, and guessing, and second-guessing about where it should be, because really I think what we’ve realized is no one is really going to tell us no, so we have to figure it out for ourselves. I found the more you can take those bananas moments, but ground them into character, and to the point where you can’t tell the character story without it. Those tend to be our best ones, so we aspire to that.”

The first three episodes of The Boys Season 3 are now streaming on Prime Videos. New episodes are released every Friday.

What have you thought about the show’s latest season so far? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter!