‘The Boys’ Boss on Premiere’s Fatal Penis Accident, Landing That Marvel-ous Cameo Ahead of ‘Doctor Strange 2’

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterPaul Reiser was introduced as The Legend, the nickname of Vought’s former head of hero management, on last week’s episode of “The Boys” Season 3. But Reiser himself was introduced to the character and the show, in all its bloody, raunchy superhero glory, not long before the world saw him in the part, as the “Stranger Things” star was oblivious to the Emmy-nominated Amazon Prime Video series until showrunner Eric Kripke and co. reached out to him for the guest spot.“I knew precious little about the show.

The Boys star Patrick Schwarzenegger has described the forthcoming spinoff series as “Euphoria meets superheroes.”The actor, who has been cast in a secret role in the still-untitled project, recently teased the storyline on Variety’s Just for Variety podcast.“This set is really fun, and there’s just a loosey-goosey comedy,” the actor said of his experience filming, before revealing he originally auditioned for the role of Homelander in the flagship series.Schwarzenegger also said he had shown his dad, Arnold, some photos from the set of The Boys spinoff to which he replied: “What the fuck are you filming?”Meanwhile, The Boys was renewed for a fourth season last week.In a statement, show creator Eric Kripke said: “Speaking for the cast and crew, we’re so grateful to Sony, Amazon, and most of all the fans for embracing the show and allowing us to make more.“We’re thrilled to continue Butcher and the Boys’ fight against Homelander and the Seven, as well as comment on the insane world we’re living in.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAmazon Prime Video’s “The Boys” is bringing another iconic character from the comics to the screen, this time with the help of Paul Reiser.The legendary actor will take on the all-important in-universe role of “The Legend,” which in the original “Boys” comics from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson was a parody version of the late famed Marvel creator Stan Lee.According to Amazon, “Reiser will be introduced as The Legend in this week’s episode titled ‘The Last Time To Look On This World Of Lies,'” which is the fifth episode of “The Boys” Season 3.Prime Video’s “The Boys,” which is executive produced by “Supernatural” creator Eric Kripke along with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, didn’t provide a description for its version of “The Legend” beyond referring to him as “an iconic fan-favorite character fromt he original comic book series,” but the streamer did release a first look photo, which can be viewed above. New episodes of the eight-episode third season of “The Boys” premiere Fridays, with four remaining until the July 8 finale.“The Boys” has already been renewed for a fourth season by Amazon Studios, a decision that was announced soon after the impressive viewership for the Season 3 premiere weekend came in last week.“We’re just really excited.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Silos Baking Competition” premiered to record-setting ratings for Magnolia Network Sunday, a turnout Chip and Joanna Gaines apparently saw coming a mile away, as their channel is already in pre-production on another baking competition series, Variety has learned exclusively.That unannounced baking competition is the first of several in the works at the cable channel, according to one source close to production.Simulcast across Food Network and Magnolia Network, a joint venture between the Gaineses and Warner Bros. Discovery, the one-hour premiere of “Silos Baking Competition,” which takes place at Chip and Jo’s Waco-based bakery, Silos Baking Co., drew more than 1.5 million viewers Sunday.

The Boys has been renewed for a fourth season by Amazon, just over a week after the third series dropped.Based on the comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the show has been ordered for another season according to Deadline, although it is unclear when it will be released.In a statement, show creator Eric Kripke said: “Speaking for the cast and crew, we’re so grateful to Sony, Amazon, and most of all the fans for embracing the show and allowing us to make more.“We’re thrilled to continue Butcher and the Boys’ fight against Homelander and the Seven, as well as comment on the insane world we’re living in. Also, this is the first time in history that exploding genitalia has led to further success.”Since the main show was released, Amazon has ordered two spin-offs from The Boys.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Glorious Five Year Plan,” the June 10 episodes of “The Boys.”The week’s episode of “The Boys” Season 3 was all about super powers — yes, more so than any standard episode of the Amazon superhero series. That’s because it delved into people getting them (Jack Quaid’s Hughie), people losing them (Karen Fukuhara’s Kimiko), people confessing they have acquired them (Karl Urban’s Butcher) and people showing off the bonkers new ones bestowed upon them by the Russians who experimented on them (Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy).Let’s start with Hughie, who upon learning that Butcher has been shooting up Temp V decided he needs to protect Annie (Erin Moriarty), despite the fact Starlight is more than capable of taking care of herself, and takes some of Butcher’s V and uses it to give himself some 24-hour super powers.

The Boys will branch further from the comics in future seasons.Based on the comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the Amazon series has remained faithful to the source material’s spirit and the overall story – with some contemporary changes for characters like Stormfront and in certain plot beats.Speaking about the show’s future, Urban, who plays Billy Butcher, said show creator Eric Kripke is “not a fan” of how the comic series ended – suggesting that the show’s trajectory moving beyond season three “will be different”.“We all have so much fun making The Boys,” Urban told NME about the show beyond the third season. “The possibilities are endless.“I think that Eric Kripke has a very definitive story in his mind, and I don’t think that he has any intention of outstaying his welcome.

A week after the Season 3 premiere of The Boys, Prime Video has ordered a fourth season of Emmy-nominated superhero series, from Sony Pictures TV and Amazon Studios.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterOne week after exploding genitalia in its Season 3 premiere and increasing viewership by 17% from Season 2’s debut, “The Boys” has been renewed for a fourth season at Amazon.While “The Boys” star Karl Urban previously spilled the fourth-season beans when he said at Variety‘s SXSW Studio on March 12 that he was “shooting ‘The Boys’ through the end of the year,” well after production had already wrapped on Season 3, Friday’s renewal marks the official Season 4 pickup from Amazon.Of course, giving “The Boys” a fourth season was always a no-brainer for Amazon, as the Eric Kripke-created show is at the center of the streamer’s first real multi-series franchise, which now includes animated anthology spinoff “The Boys Presents: Diabolical”  and the currently in-production untitled spinoff, which is set at America’s only college exclusively for young-adult superheroes.

Mystery solved! Chace Crawford finally addressed how his character’s bulge in a poster for The Boys created an issue behind-the-scenes.

Chace Crawford discussed that viral poster for “The Boys” during a new interview with Daily Mail Australia.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAmazon’s superhero series “The Boys” got a little more super(natural) in its Season 3 debut on Friday with the introduction of Jensen Ackles to the cast in the role of Soldier Boy. His arrival on the series marked a reunion for Ackles and “The Boys” showrunner Eric Kripke, as Kripke is also the creator of The CW’s “Supernatural,” which starred Ackles and Jared Padalecki as brothers Dean and Sam Winchester throughout its 15-season run.So now that Ackles has made his way from one Kripke show to another, is there any chance we’ll see his on-screen brother drop by for a cameo either in the currently airing third season or the yet-to-be-picked-up-but-definitely-a-safe-bet Season 4?“I would love a Jared cameo! He’s always welcome on the show,” Kripke told Variety.

Crawford plays “The Deep,” an aquatic superhero with a scandalous private life, and is one of the main characters in “The Boys” comic book and television show.An official Amazon calendar including an unairbrushed photo of his huge bulge was released when the show first premiered in 2019, but fans noticed something was fishy when Crawford appeared on the show without his Big Boy. The 36-year-old actor recently confirmed that his character was supposed to have a comically large penis but the Amazon executives were not amused when they learned he was wearing a prosthetic penis under his skintight costume. “[Showrunner Eric] Kripke was like, ‘We get no notes from Amazon, but the first one we got was that can’t f–king happen, we’ve got to take that out,'” the “Gossip Girl” star told Daily Mail Australia.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterKids’ television industry vet Cyma Zarghami’s MiMo Studios has launched a new preschool series aimed at preparing young children for consuming content and games in the Metaverse, Variety has learned exclusively.Titled “@HippoPark,” the animated kids’ series is described as “a place where you can splash, climb, run, slide and play with your friends all of the time. You might see a hippo, you might pilot a plane, you might grow your own garden, you might dance in the rain.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Payback,” “The Only Man in the Sky” and “Barbary Coast,” the first three episodes of “The Boys” Season 3.Everything is finally going well for Hughie (Jack Quaid) in “The Boys” Season 3 premiere until, as star Claudia Doumit puts it to Variety, “In true ‘Boys’ fashion, just at the end of the first episode, we’ve seen enough of that and we need blood, we want chaos.”After spending the year following the Season 2 finale working for Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Doumit) at the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, Hughie finds out at the end of Friday’s Season 3 premiere that Neuman is a supe herself. She kills an innocent man from her past to keep her status quiet, not knowing Hughie is watching in the shadows, horrified to learn who his colleague and friend truly is.

Jordan Moreau SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Payback,” “The Only Man in the Sky” and “Barbary Coast,” the three episodes that are part of the June 3 launch of “The Boys” Season 3.After hating all super-powered people throughout the first two seasons of “The Boys,” Butcher (Karl Urban) has now become the exact thing he’s despised — at least, for 24 hours at a time. Thanks to Temp V, a brand new Vought serum he’s gotten his hands on, Butcher can now withstand gunshots and shoot lasers from his eyes, which an NRA-obsessed supe named Gunpowder learns the hard way.On his Season 3 mission to kill Homelander (Antony Starr), Butcher decides to level the playing field a bit by taking Temp V, which makes him super-strong and near-invincible.

Chace Crawford had a panic attack while filming the new season of The Boys.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab,” they Volume 1 finale episode of “Stranger Things” Season 4.The second part of “Stranger Things” Season 4 will debut in less than a month. But what member of the Hellfire Club can wait that long for answers to all the questions posed by the shocking Volume 1 finale and its major reveal that Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) created the Upside Down and the big bad Vecna, by locking One (Jamie Campbell Bower) inside the supernatural realm.“Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer, professionally known as the Duffer Brothers, weren’t willing to spill on everything just yet when sitting down with Variety to talk about the first seven episodes of Season 4 on Thursday — but they gave us plenty to go on until Volume 2 debuts July 1.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe midseason finale of the sixth and final season of “Better Call Saul” grew 87% with three days of delayed viewership, according to Nielsen’s Live + 3 data.The May 23 episode, which is the conclusion of Part 1 of the “Breaking Bad” prequel’s final chapter, drew 2.2 million viewers including its initial linear airing on AMC, plus three days of mostly DVR viewing.According to AMC, viewership via streamer AMC+ was up 61% over the Season 6 premiere, and “Better Call Saul” currently stands as the top acquisition driver in the history of the SVOD.“The response to this final season of Better Call Saul, from viewers, critics, long-time fans and new arrivals to the series – on all platforms – has been everything we had hoped for,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “The series looks like nothing else on television, which is a tribute to the creative genius and excellence of Vince, Peter, Bob, Rhea, Giancarlo, Patrick, Jonathan, Michael, Tony, our partners at Sony and everyone else associated with this extraordinary effort.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAlexis Bledel will not return for “The Handmaid’s Tale” Season 5, Variety has learned exclusively.Bledel, who has played the key character of Emily/Ofglen on the Hulu drama since its first season debuted in 2017, said in a statement Friday: “After much thought, I felt I had to step away from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ at this time. I am forever grateful to Bruce Miller for writing such truthful and resonant scenes for Emily, and to Hulu, MGM, the cast and crew for their support.”During her four-year run on “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Bledel received four Emmy nominations and one win for her performance in the Bruce Miller-created TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s iconic novel.Aside from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Bledel is best known for her starring role as Rory Gilmore alongside Lauren Graham’s Lorelai Gilmore on “Gilmore Girls” and the revival “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life,” as well as her parts in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” franchise and “Mad Men.” Airing its fourth season from April to June 2021, “The Handmaid’s Tale” follows June (Elisabeth Moss) while she strikes back against Gilead as a fierce rebel leader, but the risks she takes bring unexpected and dangerous new challenges.