THE BOYS Boss Eric Kripke on Spinoff GEN V Launching During a Strike: ‘It’s a Little Scary’

THE BOYS franchise expands today with its new series GEN V. But the series comes at a strange time in the industry—the WGA strike just ended, and the actors’ guild will begin their negotiations with the AMPTP on October 2.

“Look, it’s a little scary,” THE BOYS creator (and GEN V executive producer) Eric Kripke told Give Me My Remote in August, before the WGA strike ended. “We can’t promote it, and we want to—the WGA rules are a little more lax than SAG. But no one really cares much as much what the writers have to say.”

“The actors can’t do anything,” he continued. “Which I understand, and understand the pressure that it’s putting on the studios—but it’s also scary, because we’re watching one thing after another tank and just go off the cliff. And we’re in line to go off the cliff. I hope we get wings, maybe, by then. So I’m a little nervous about it.”

(During the WGA strike, writers were allowed to talk about their shows as long as it wasn’t set up by the network/studio/streamer; during the SAG-AFTRA strike, performers are not allowed to discuss their projects produced for struck companies under any circumstance.)

Kripke acknowledged the show does have one leg up: “I think the thing we have going for us is it’s a brand. So they are able to promote [it as part of] THE BOYS. And so, hopefully, that does enough to get people fired up.”

The drama is set at Godolkin University, “the prestigious superhero-only college where students train to be the next generation of heroes—preferably with lucrative endorsements. You know what happens when supes go bad, but not all superheroes start out corrupt. Beyond the typical college chaos of finding oneself and partying, these kids are facing explosive situations … literally. As the students vie for popularity and good grades, it’s clear that the stakes are much higher when super powers are involved. When the group of young supes discover that something bigger and sinister is going on at school, they’re put to the test: Will they be the heroes or the villains of their stories?”

GEN V stars Jaz Sinclair, Chance Perdomo, Lizze Broadway, Shelley Conn, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sean Patrick Thomas, and Marco Pigossi; Clancy Brown, Jason Ritter, Jessie T. Usher, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, P.J. Byrne, and Jensen Ackles guest star. (Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters serve as showrunners.)

During the WGA strike, Kripke set up reunions for THE BOYS and SUPERNATURAL to support the ongoing labor dispute.

“I’m not here for myself,” he said at the SUPERNATURAL reunion. “I was out in ’07 [writers’ strike], and I got to walk with a lot of people that I was really blown away and starstruck to see. And they weren’t striking for themselves. They were striking for me, and I’m really glad to be able to return the favor. And I’m not out here for me. I’m out here for the future.”

RELATED:

• The SUPERNATURAL Team Reunites for ‘the Most Epic’ Reunion Supporting the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes

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