‘The Boys’ Spinoff Series a Go at Amazon With New Showrunners

The Boys spinoff is moving forward at Amazon.

The retail giant/streamer has handed out a series order for its college-set spinoff from Eric Kripke‘s breakout superhero drama. As part of the pickup, Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters — who previously oversaw ABC Marvel drama Agent Carter — have boarded the untitled series as showrunners. The longtime writing duo take over for Craig Rosenberg, who departed the drama following creative differences with Amazon and producers Sony Pictures TV.

In the works for more than a year, the untitled series is set at America’s only college exclusively for young-adult superheroes (run by Vought International). It’s described as an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive superheroes as they put their physical, sexual and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. It’s part college show, part Hunger Games — with all the heart, satire and raunch of The Boys.

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Jaz Sinclair (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Lizze Broadway (Here and Now), Shane Paul McGhie (Unbelievable), Aimee Carrero (Elena of Avalor), Reina Hardesty (Brockmire) and Maddie Phillips (Teenage Bounty Hunters) will play the young superheroes. Additional castings are expected to be announced later.

Fazekas and Butters (Law & Order: SVU, Reaper, Emergence, The X-Files) exec produce alongside The Boys showrunner Kripke, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Neal H. Moritz, Ori Marmur, Pavun Shetty, Ken Levin, Jason Netter, Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson and Michaela Starr.

“Much like Mork & Mindy spun off from Happy Days — which is an insane and true fact — our spinoff will exist in the Vought Cinematic Universe, yet have a tone and style all its own. It’s our take on a college show, with an ensemble of fascinating, complicated and sometimes deadly Young Supes,” said Kripke. “Michele and Tara are stone-cold geniuses, we’re thrilled to have them steer this ship, and grateful to Sony and Amazon for the opportunity. We love this show and can’t wait for you to see it. Also, Baywatch Nights spun off from Baywatch, and it had vampires. Vampires!”

The Boys has become a rare breakout and awards player for Amazon Studios. The flagship scored a surprising nomination for best drama series as part of a total of five Emmy nominations this year. The Boys recently wrapped production on season three; a premiere date has not yet been announced. The Boys is one of many streaming series that was turned into a franchise after cutting through the clutter and being embraced by viewers. Other streaming series to get speedy spinoffs include Netflix’s The Witcher, which expanded to multiple shows after its first season.

Amazon also has the Lord of the Rings TV series due in September 2022, with multiple spinoffs said to have been part of the $250 million global rights deal to land the rights to the property.