Why The Boys: Diabolical Was Canceled By Amazon

With all its spin-offs, "The Boys" is starting to resemble the cinematic franchises it initially set out to deconstruct. But fans clearly can't get enough of Prime Video's satirical superhero universe, which is set to expand with even more spin-offs in the near future. All of which raises the question of what's happening to the very first offshoot, "The Boys Presents: Diabolical." Well, it doesn't look good for the series, as according to co-creator Eric Kripke, viewing figures just weren't where they needed to be during its first and only season.

Just ahead of "The Boys" season 3 premiere, fans were given their first spin-off in the form of "The Boys Presents: Diabolical." The animated anthology series debuted in March 2022 and was set in the same universe as the mothership series, telling standalone stories, each with its own animation style and tone. "The Boys Presents: Diabolical" was an experiment that mostly worked, and it appeared to be a hit, garnering positive reviews and successfully expanding "The Boys" universe relatively early in the main show's run. Alas, it seems the audience numbers weren't quite what Prime Video was hoping for.

In an interview with The Wrap, Kripke was asked whether "The Boys: Diabolical" would return, saying:

"I don't think there's going to be a season 2 of 'Diabolical.' It's not for lack of us pushing. I think ultimately the viewer numbers weren't there to justify a second season, sadly. Although, we love it and Simon [Racioppa], the showrunner, would be game to do it, but we haven't gotten a go ahead on that."

Short of an official announcement from Prime Video, then, it seems "Diabolical" is as close to cancelled as possible.

Everything about "The Boys Presents: Diabolical" suggested it would be a success. Aside from drafting in stars from "The Boys," the show benefited from some serious writing talent, with Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, Awkwafina, Andy Samberg, and the co-creator of the original "The Boys" comic book series, Garth Ennis, among others contributing. That dream team produced eight episodes of "The Boys: Diabolical," including a Homelander origin story in "One Plus One Equals Two." All of which ended up garnering a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

In June 2022, three months after the series dropped, head of global television at Amazon Studios, Vernon Sanders, seemed optimistic about a potential second season, telling Deadline, "There is absolutely the possibility," and explaining that there was a "two-fold" purpose to the show. "One was to get 'The Boys' fans excited," he said, "[...] but we also wanted to see if there was another bite of the apple once the mothership show returned, and we are seeing real engagement and growth of the show there." According to Sanders, then, "Diabolical" — which was produced during the pandemic to keep "The Boys" fans satiated — had seen a bump upon the return of the main series. All of which appeared to bode well for its return.

Unfortunately, while Prime Video hasn't officially cancelled the show, Eric Kripke's comments to The Wrap are about as close as we'll get to confirmation that "Diabolical" is done for. The co-creator didn't elaborate on the viewership figures, so it's hard to know exactly what went on behind the scenes, but it certainly looks as though Prime Video is pushing ahead with live-action "The Boys" spin-offs — which might have something to do with "Diabolical" falling by the wayside.

Following the success of the "Gen V" spin-off, which focuses on young adult supes at the Godolkin University School of Crimefighting, Prime Video started developing two major spin-offs in the form of the 1950s-set murder mystery prequel "Vought Rising" and the Diego Luna-starring "The Boys: Mexico." As such, it's not as if fans will be lacking in "The Boys" media, and it might just be the case that the live-action spin-offs have been a factor in Prime Video neglecting to give "Diabolical" a chance to improve its viewership.

That said, it's not as if the animated show was without any problems of its own. "Diabolical" was somewhat confusing in the sense that not all of its episodes took place within the same universe as the mothership series. Eric Kripke has since claimed that he and the producers only considered three episodes as canon to "The Boys" but even these installments didn't influence the main show in any major way, and as such, fans didn't need to see the series to follow the central storyline. That will likely sound familiar to Marvel Cinematic Universe fans who know all too well the pitfalls that come with spin-off streaming series that don't advance the main plot but which provide tangential context to the franchise as a whole. The Prime Video execs might well have been thinking the same thing.

Otherwise, there's just the general trend of streaming services cancelling shows early due to a variety of factors. As with most of these cancellations, then, much of the logic remains opaque to those of us on the outside, but we can at least be excited for "The Boys" and "Gen V" to continue and for the arrival of "Vought Rising" and "The Boys: Mexico."