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The Boys EP Talks Season 2, "Butcher" Short, Giancarlo Esposito & More

The Boys executive producer Eric Kripke is turning into a one-person promotional machine for the second-season return of the streaming service's adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's comic book series. In a recently posted interview with Collider, he offered up another round of intel on what fans can expect- including how the season's need "to go deeper" with more "intense stuff" pushed the average length of the season's episodes to 55-65 minutes each. In addition, Kripke confirmed that Philip Sgriccia, Alex Graves, Sarah Boyd, Stefan Schwartz, Frederick E.O. Toye, and Batan Silva will be taking turns in the director's chair.

With the success of the first season came a much better (translation: bigger) budget for season 2, but Kripke explains that more money didn't necessarily translate to big action scenes or special effects sequences: "They goosed up our budget a bit. That time buys you the ability…and it doesn't just mean huge action scenes. It does mean some of those. We have some huge sequences. There are larger sea mammals. There is some bigger stuff for sure. But there is also a lot more intense stuff and scenes that were really difficult for the actors emotionally and require a bit more time. It's not just the visuals that are epic; I think the emotions are a little more epic this season and that just takes some TLC with the actors."

One familiar face fans can expect to so much more of this season is Giancarlo Esposito's (Better Call Saul, The Mandalorian) Vought CEO Stan Edgar, who we reunite with early on this season (as seen in the released season-opener preview). For Kripke, Edgar is the perfect figure to represent corporate "big bad": "We really expand his role. With Elisabeth Shue gone we really needed a character to represent the true monster of the show which is Vought. He does that with his icy, chilling demeanor. I've loved him ever since I worked with him on Revolution. He's one of my favorite actors and I was thrilled and honored that he was open to coming back and playing again."

Saving the best bit of spoiler-y The Boys news for last, we also learned that there was footage filmed to show what Butcher (Karl Urban) was up to between the previous season's finale and when he finally rejoins the crew in the upcoming season's second episode. Originally intended for the second episode, the footage will now be used in a short film entitled "Butcher" that will show what the team "leader" was up to during those missing weeks. The short film will be released shortly after the premiere of the second season on September 4th.

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