‘The Boys’ Episodes Cost More Than $11 Million Each, Allowing For Bigger Action Sequences Every Season
The Boys is a superhero television series that has attracted thousands of viewers. Exclusively streaming on Amazon Prime Video and based on the hugely popular comic book series, The Boys takes the superhero genre to bold and original places in every one of its episodes. The show is at times shocking, gory, hilarious, and intense, regularly introducing new characters and always breaking the mold.
While The Boys seems effortless in terms of its humor, a lot of work goes into making it a hit. In fact, just the first season of the hit show had a budget of more than $11 million per episode.
‘The Boys’ is an irreverent take on the superhero genre
The Boys tells the story of a band of vigilantes who take issue with the unchecked power that the world’s superheroes seem to have. So, they resolve to take matters into their own hands. The cast of The Boys is truly impressive. It features stars such as Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Erin Moriarty, and Chace Crawford contributing to the show’s plotlines.
The first season of The Boys was an overwhelming hit when all eight episodes dropped on Amazon’s Prime Video in Summer 2019. The second season premiered in September 2020. Two years later, the third season of The Boys dropped on the platform. Over the years, the show has consistently upped the ante in terms of quality and stunt sequences, with mind-blowing special effects and stunning visuals.
How much does of ‘The Boys’ episodes cost?
It is far from cheap to produce a show like The Boys. Fortunately, the production team behind the show is prepared to make each episode the best that it can be. An extravagant budget allows for extreme special effects and stunts. According to BuzzFeed, the first season of The Boys had a budget of $11.2 million per episode. After the first season became a hit, Amazon upped the budget for the show, allowing for even more to be spent on things like cast members’ salaries, visual effects, and stunt sequences.
Showrunner Eric Kripke opened up to Collider in 2020 about how production has been able to consistently up the ante as the seasons have progressed. “They goosed up our budget a bit,” he shared. “That time buys you the ability…and it doesn’t just mean huge action scenes. It does mean some of those. We have some huge sequences.”
Kripke went on to describe how that budget goes to a lot more than just enhanced stunt work. “There are larger sea mammals. There is some bigger stuff for sure. But there is also a lot more intense stuff and scenes that were really difficult for the actors emotionally and require a bit more time. It’s not just the visuals that are epic; I think the emotions are a little more epic this season and that just takes some TLC with the actors,” he added.
‘The Boys’ was recently renewed for a fourth season
All the work (and money) put into The Boys has paid off in a big way for Amazon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the third season of The Boys was one of the top-performing streaming series of 2022 in terms of viewership. More than 949 million minutes were viewed in the first week that the season started streaming. Fortunately, viewers who are looking forward to even more of the outrageous superhero series will soon be able to indulge, with Amazon announcing in June 2022 that a fourth season of The Boys has been greenlit.