The Hunger Games star Jack Quaid has been cast in a lead role in Amazon’s upcoming series The Boys, which is adapted from the ultraviolent comic by Garth Ennis.
The series was developed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who previously saved Ennis adap Preacher from years of development hell. It was written by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke, with Rogen and Goldberg set to direct. Quaid will play Hughie, a character believed to have originally been modelled on Simon Pegg.
Ennis and Darick Robertson’s satirical, ultraviolent comic ran for 72 issues from 2008-2012, published initially by Wildstorm and then by Dynamite Entertainment. Mixing riotous comedy with bleak cynicism and all-out obscenity, it is set in a time when superheroes have become a reckless liability, abusing the freedom afforded by their celebrity. A CIA squad of thugs and blue-collar criminals, nicknamed The Boys, are put together to keep them in line and eliminate them when necessary.
As with Preacher, an adaptation of Ennis’ The Boys struggled to get off the starting blocks for a long time, with both Columbia and Paramount having expressed interest over the last few years. The project hails from Sony Pictures TV Studios, which will co-produce with Amazon and Neal H. Moritz’s studio-based Original Films.
Words: Kevan Farrow (@KevanX)
