In Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s Herogasm, a limited spin-off series of The Boys, Wee Hughie and the rest of the Boys set out to infiltrate the titular bacchanalia that Vought throws every year for its corporate-branded superheroes. Away from the prying eyes of the public, Herogasm gives Vought’s capes a chance to let their hair down even further and freely indulge in the kinds of superhuman debauchery that the company usually works hard to discourage them from.
Though Amazon’s live-action adaptation hasn’t been shy about sex in its past two seasons, showrunner Eric Kripke says that the upcoming third season’s riff on Herogasm will introduce a new level of explicitness that, when initially proposed, gave Amazon pause. In a recent interview with the Wrap, Kripke described how The Boys’ successful track record of coming just shy of doing too much while also telling a solid story was ultimately what led to his ideas being approved.
“I think when I first pitched it, I said, ‘Guys, here’s the episode and it’s called ‘Herogasm.’” Kripke said. “And Andie Green and Katie Graves and the rest of the Amazon executives, I think there was just sort of a sigh of resignation, you know? They’re just like resigned,” Kripke said. “They’re like, ‘Look, you’ve really proven yourself over two years. We knew it was only a matter of time.’”
Though it should likely be taken with a grain of salt, Kripke described some of what’s been shot for season three as X-rated, and said that the creative team’s approach to this arc as a whole required a fair amount of restraint in what’s canonically a very adult, and at times sexually graphic story.
“We’ll make sure that we’re walking the right line and that we’re outrageous, but not exploitive, of course,” Kripke said. “So there probably will be a lot of self-censorship. But anyone who is a fan of the books and that particular volume of ‘Herogasm,’ I can just tell you, you’re definitely going to get the full ‘Herogasm’ experience. There’s just no question.”
From the handful of details that have been shared about Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, you can already get an idea of some of the Herogasm plot points that The Boys is probably steering clear of, like Homelander coercing Soldier Boy into having sex with him by promising him a spot on the Seven. In a post-American Gods and Game of Thrones world, a genre series going full frontal isn’t exactly new, and it will be interesting to see if this is all pretense for The Boys actually doing something interesting, or it it’s just a heads up that the next season is simply going to show a lot more skin.
The Boys’ third season is currently in production, and set to hit Amazon Prime some time in the near future.