Prime Video’s ‘The Boys’ universe is bigger than it has ever been. New seasons, new spinoffs, new corners of Vought’s nightmare world keep audiences fed year after year. And one of the most inventive, unusual, and daring experiments of the franchise, ‘The Boys Presents: Diabolical’, has been buried.
There was no renewal of the announcement. Just a gentle fade-to-black, even with an almost flawless 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating and some of the most creative storytelling the franchise has ever had.
The Cancellation Was More About Streaming Trends Than The Show
Eric Kripke himself just recently affirmed what fans feared: Season 2 is not happening. Not because of quality or creative indifference. But because ‘Diabolical’ was not bringing in the numbers that Prime Video desired. This can be one of the greatest losses of the franchise, considering that the show was a celebration of chaos, creativity, and the uncivilized comic-book nonsense that made the world so volatile.
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When Kripke revealed that ‘Diabolical‘ was done “not for lack of us pushing,” it stung, because this is becoming a familiar story across the streaming landscape. Unless something gathers massive viewership in the first place, it does not stand a chance. And ‘Diabolical’ was meant to be niche. It was not based on the central plot, did not need a huge weekly following, and was not dependent on cliffhangers. It was small, weird, experimental, and frequently appallingly emotional.
Anthologies do not often take over metrics, yet ‘Diabolical’ still found its own niche. The timing didn’t help either. Prime Video currently has: ‘Gen V’ season 2, ‘The Boys’ season 5 under post-production, ‘Vought Rising’ filming, and ‘The Boys: Mexico‘ under development. As the live-action world was growing in size, ‘Diabolical‘ was the project that could not easily be integrated into the bigger franchise approach.
It didn’t set up plot lines. It did not promote canon in grand manners. The show was a playground, imaginative, unpredictable, disorderly in every good sense. But streaming is no longer friendly to playgrounds. It desires interconnected highways. So, Diabolical was able to make a mark.
‘The Boys: Diabolical’ Could Have Become The Secret Weapon Of The Franchise
Fundamentally, ‘Diabolical’ was a celebration of what ‘The Boys’ could be beyond continuity, structure, and the boundaries of live-action. Its eight episodes each took a new animation style, ranging from Looney Tunes chaos to anime ultraviolence to gritty graphic-novel realism. And every episode was a story about the ridiculousness of a world that was governed by unbalanced superheroes.
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It was a reminder that ‘The Boys’ is not merely a satire, but a sandbox of tone, genre, and style. The anthology format enabled ‘Diabolical’ to delve into civilian-level tales. Introduce comic-faithful aesthetics. And add one-off characters without worrying about long-term arcs. Some episodes were hilarious. Others were shockingly tragic. That is why the cancellation is so tragic. The second season of ‘Diabolical’ had unlimited possibilities.
The animated format was demonstrated to be able to capture the world in a way that live-action cannot. The anthology was the perfect place to show the everyday disasters in Vought’s labs, stories too small for ‘The Boys’. It could also give side characters the spotlight. It could’ve just been raw satire. There was no need to be concerned with the primary timeline or to establish future seasons. Nothing but pure, sharp, fearless storytelling. In simple words, the show had a lot of potential.
