No More Supes For Now: The Boys Season 4 Delayed By WGA Strike
Fans of the most subversive superhero series will have to wait until further notice from Vought International.
Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike for a month now, picketing production company offices to demand a stop to the exploitation of screenwriters, regulation of and higher pay, and that the issues surrounding the use of AI in movie and TV production be addressed.
And the longer the AMPTP, the organisation that represents major media companies and streaming services, remains silent, the greater the losses its members incur. Prime Video's The Boys is yet another show to fall victim to the strike: its creator Eric Kripke has just announced that it won't go into post-production until the WGA strike is over.
Supernatural and The Boys creator Eric Kripke, a Writers Guild of America West member, has been an active protester, appearing on the picket lines with fellow The Boys crew in front of the Amazon offices in Culver City.
And given that the writers of the most satirical show (second, perhaps, only to Succession) are actively involved in the strike and are being supported by the show's cast and crew, the release date of The Boys' fourth season is now up in the air.
'When #Season4 drops depends on how long the #WGA Strike goes. No answer yet. Tell the studios to make a fair deal!' Kripke tweeted, urging the companies to finally pay attention to the protesters.
According to Kripke, even though the filming for the fourth season wrapped up a month before the strike began, the season's release date will still be affected because writers are involved in every step of the production process, including post-production.
'There's a good amount of dialogue we write in post that the actors come back to record (called ADR), to help bridge story gaps or clarify a plot point. We'll also edit dialogue together in different ways to "rewrite" it. Writing at every stage of the process,' he explained.
That means the writers, including Kripke, need time to polish the upcoming season, and we really have no choice but to wait and support them in their fight for decent pay and working conditions.
In the meantime, we just got word that a spinoff show titled Gen V and focusing on the superhero university run by Vought, will premier before Season 4 of The Boys. It's scheduled for release in the fall of 2023, and seeing how filming for it wrapped up last year, it's highly unlikely that it will be affected by the strike in any way.