The Boys season 2 finished last week, and it closed with a fantastic finale and an unexpected ending, setting the stage for a different kind of villain in season 3. Unfortunately, The Boys season 3 might be a long wait away – even though the third season was confirmed by Amazon Prime Video back in July, filming on the next series won’t begin until next year.
Executive producer Eric Kripke confirmed this in a tweet revealing that the first episode of season 3 is called ‘Payback’. “The Boys Will Return. Season 3 Begins Filming Early 2021. You’re Not Fucking Ready,” read the tweet.
Here it is, along with an image of the front page of the first script:
#TheBoys Will Return.#Season3 Begins Filming Early 2021You’re Not Fucking Ready.#TheBoysTV @TheBoysTV @PrimeVideo @SPTV #SPNFamily @Sethrogen @antonystarr @JackQuaid92 @KarlUrban @ErinMoriarty_ @lazofficial @KarenFukuhara @The_JessieT @itsNateMitchell pic.twitter.com/sg0CdD74PcOctober 14, 2020
But ‘Payback’ for who? The word probably has more than one meaning in the context of the show – but in The Boys’ comic book universe, Payback is a rival superhero team to The Seven, and a slightly pathetic one at that.
In the show, they’ll be a predecessor team to The Seven, and led by Soldier Boy – a Captain America-like figure played by Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles, and the original superhero in this universe.
Considering The Seven is left in a slightly strange state at the end of season 2, throwing in some new supes should give season 3 a jolt of energy.
Why does this mean The Boys season 3 will require a long wait?
The Boys season 2 recaps
Billy Butcher actor Karl Urban said on Instagram that he finished filming The Boys season 2 back in November 2019, and it took until September the next year for the show to release. Since this is an effects-heavy series and filming doesn’t start until next year, it feels like late 2021 is the earliest we’re going to see The Boys return – even 2022 doesn’t seem out of the question, but we’ll have to wait and see.
According to THR, The Boys also has a spin-off in the works about a college exclusively made up of superheroes, owned by Vought, the corporation that runs The Seven in the show.
Clearly, Amazon is trying to turn this into its big franchise – that spin-off was greenlit based on the popularity of season 2.