The Boys star Jeffrey Dean Morgan and show creator Erik Kripke opened up about the shocking twist revealed in season 4, episode 6.
The latest offering from the Prime superhero show revealed the true nature of the relationship between Morgan’s character, Joe Kessler, and Karl Urban’s character, Butcher: (SPOILER ALERT) Kessler actually died a long time ago, and the character seen onscreen has been another one of Butcher’s hallucinations.
It was revealed that Butcher did not save Kessler during his service in Afghanistan, but instead left him to die. Now, Kessler exists only as a delusion, a symptom of Butcher’s Temp V vaccine-induced brain tumor.
“We were always going to reveal it in Episode 6, we didn’t want to save it for the end of the movie,” Kripke said. Variety on Friday.
“Because now Kessler has this new role of literally being the devil on his shoulder, and really twisting the knife and saying really cruel things to Butcher that turn out to be totally true, which is always great when your villain can be a real straight-talker.”
The latest installment of Prime’s superhero show revealed the true nature of the relationship between Morgan’s character, Joe Kessler, and Karl Urban’s character, Butcher.
Kripke also explained his efforts to ensure his big reveal stood apart from previous twists involving imaginary characters.
The episode six reveal occurs during a fight between Butcher and Kessler over the ethical dilemma of releasing a virus into the air.
As Butcher hesitates, influenced by the hallucination of his dead wife, Becca, Kessler lashes out at the imaginary Becca, revealing that he, too, is an imaginary figure.
“I think whenever someone turns out to be imaginary, the first draft is always like another character walks into the room and says, ‘Who are you talking to? ‘” Kripke said.
‘I’m sure that was our first draft when we put it on the board. Hughie came in and said, “Who are you talking to?” But we said, “Well, everyone’s done it, can we do something different?”
“And Becca is this imaginary character. And what if the two imaginary characters start yelling at each other? That would be a new way to do that kind of reveal.”
Morgan, on the other hand, spoke about her experience working with Urban and expressed her enjoyment of their on-screen chemistry.
“(Urban) and I were so focused on each other that we didn’t care who else or what was going on in the scene,” he told the outlet.
“We were always going to reveal it in Episode 6, we didn’t want to save it for the end of the movie,” Eric Kripke told Variety (pictured June 4 in New York)
It was revealed that Butcher did not save Kessler during his service in Afghanistan, but instead left him to die.
Kripke also explained his efforts to ensure his big reveal stood apart from previous twists involving imaginary characters.
Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys will end after its fifth season, the series’ showrunner announced Tuesday; image from The Boys
“We were having a great time. It’s very rare that you walk onto a set and immediately connect with someone.
‘In romance, he would be your soulmate, and Karl was like my fucking soulmate.
“And we knew immediately that we had something really fun and special here and we were just going to have fun, play and enjoy it.”
With just two episodes left in The Boys season 4, fans have a lot to look forward to. A fifth and final season has already been confirmed, and spin-off series Gen V will also return for a second season.