Simon Racioppa, the showrunner for The Boys Presents: Diabolical is an animated spinoff of Amazon's subversive superhero series The Boys. The animated anthology series expands on its live-action counterpart with short stories written and directed by different creators. The show's first season features episodes written by Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg, Aisha Tyler, Justin Roiland, Ilana Glazer, and Awkwafina. Directors for Diabolical also came from various animation backgrounds, offering a unique look for each episode, like Crystal Chesney, who directed episodes of Futurama and Disenchantment, and Giancarlo Volpe, who directed episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The Boys Presents: Diabolical introduced new characters while also bringing in some characters audiences would recognize from the show, like Homelander and Billy Butcher. The series embraced the idea of going bigger and bolder than The Boys, thanks to the unlimited constraints of animation. Some of Diabolical's storylines consisted of "BFFs," an episode where a young girl befriends her sentient poop after she drank Compound V, and "Laser Baby's Day Out," which saw a toddler with laser vision horrifyingly kill more than a few people.
During a WonderCon 2022 (via CBR) , Racioppa discussed ideas for the second season of The Boys Presents: Diabolical, saying, "I would like a second season to be completely brand new." Expanding on that statement, he discussed how Diabolical could go places The Boys can't to offer audiences things they haven't seen before. Racioppa then promised, "it won't be just eight episodes of eleven minutes again." Check out Racioppa's comments about The Boys Presents: Diabolical season 2 below:
"I would like a second season to be completely brand new. I think the promise of Diabolical is that it's a grab bag of stuff that you have not seen before, stuff that we have not done before, stuff that you're not seeing on the mother ship, on the main Boys show or any of the other Boys universe stuff -- it has to be completely new. So, I would come back and surprise you with something that you are not expecting, so probably whatever I can say is that it won't be just eight episodes of eleven minutes again."
Beyond longer episodes, what the second season of The Boys Presents: Diabolical could entail remains a mystery. When approaching the first season, Racioppa said, "We wanted to do something different and weird -- something that you are definitely not seeing anywhere else." The showrunner is likely to carry that sentiment into the second season, where the show could continue to explore smaller, unique stories within The Boys' world. Diabolical could also venture further into comic book storylines, like the season one episode "I'm Your Pusher," which sees Simon Pegg voicing Hughie, a character initially modeled after the actor. Pegg also appears in The Boys as Hughie's father, with Jack Quaid playing Hughie.
The Boys Presents: Diabolical has not yet been renewed for a second season. However, a renewal may be forthcoming with the third season of The Boys slated to premiere in June, which could bring even more viewers to the animated spinoff. Further details on the potential second season renewal of The Boys Presents: Diabolical will be forthcoming.
Source: WonderCon 2022 (via CBR)