Simon Racioppa on ‘The Boys Presents: Diabolical’: ‘Not a bridge in terms of narrative’ 

The showrunner and executive producer says the animated anthology series of shorts tells stories that could happen around the world of ‘The Boys’

All who are waiting for June 3 for Season 3 of  The Boys have tasty little appetisers in the form of  The Boys Presents: Diabolical. The anthology series of eight animated shorts, examines the world around  The Boys, according to showrunner and executive producer, Simon Racioppa. 

Speaking over a video call from Los Angeles, Racioppa says, “ Diabolical is not a bridge in terms of the narrative. We do not continue or pick up any of the stories. We are showing you other stories that could happen around the seasons. Some of the episodes are a little too different and may exist in other dimensions. They do not take place in the same world of  The Boys.”  

Without a doubt 

A huge fan of  The Boys, Racioppa says he immediately said yes when asked if he would be interested in working on the spin-off. “I was wrapping up another animated superhero show,  Invincible, for which I was the showrunner. Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen were two of the executive producers on the show. I have known Evan for a couple of years now. We have done some other work together. He is also a producer on  The Boys with Eric Kripke. Evan asked me if I was interested in helping them create this new show for  The Boys. A spin-off that we could do very quickly to come out before the new season of  The Boys as a treat for the fans.” 

Script and style 

Each of the eight episodes has different animation styles: from classic American animated shorts in “Laser Baby’s Day Out” to an homage to the original The Boys comics in “I’m Your Pusher”. “We chose different animation styles because the scripts all seem to be best expressed through a different style. If we did them all in the same style, they would not have come out quite as well. As we started talking about the stories, as the writer started working on the scripts, we tried to find the best possible style to express that idea.” 

The name of the series,  Diabolical, Racioppa says is a phrase that Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) uses fairly often in the show, often with an expletive. “It is his catchphrase. We thought it would be a great title for this series.”