Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: the boys

The Boys Showrunner Regrets Killing Off Madelyn Stillwell, Splinter

The Boys creator and showrunner Eric Kripke reveals why he regretted killing Elizabeth Shue's Madelyn Stillwell and Rob Benedict's Splinter.

As cathartic as The Boys is, creator Eric Kripke does have regrets about certain decisions he's made, at least when it comes to killing certain characters. As he developed the series as a satire and commentary on the current state of politics, he also took creative liberties, diverging dramatically from the original Dynamite Comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson to make it more palatable for the Prime Video TV adaptation. For example, James Stillwell was genderbent to Madelyn Stillwell, played by Elizabeth Shue in the TV series, setting a precedent for Homelander's (Antony Starr) milk fetish on top of being his handler as a Vought executive in season one. Homelander also shockingly killed her by lasering her eyes at the end of season one to demonstrate one of several unhinged moments the character will be all series. With hindsight being 20-20, Kripke admitted that perhaps it was a mistake to talk about the regrets he had about killing certain characters, speaking to Screen Rant about what could have been.

The Boys Creator Eric Kripke on Why He Regretted Killing Stillwell and Splinter

When asked about the character he regretted killing, Kripke offered not only Madelyn but also season four's Splinter, played by Rob Benedict, who previously worked with him on the CW series Supernatural as Chuck/God. A parody of Marvel's Multiple Man, who can clone himself, Splinter appeared in the episode "Life Among the Skeptics," where it's revealed to be working with Firecracker (Valorie Curry), and later, to the Boys' Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Kimiko's (Karen Fukuhara) horror, is shown to have certain feelings for the Vought conservative firebrand in a sauna with multiple versions of himself in compromising positions. Later, the Boys find themselves in a fight with Splinter, and eventually, they kill his clones on their way to the alpha.

"[Splinter] was a good one. Rob was awesome, and we could have gotten a lot more juice out of Splinter," Kripke said. "Oh, and you know what, Madelyn Stillwell. If I could go back again, you know what's funny is the beginning of that season, Lisa was like, 'I'm only in for one season. I only want to do the show one season.' I'm like, 'Okay, we'll kill you off at the end.' We kill her off at the end, and she comes to me, and she's like, 'Why did you kill me off?' Like, 'Why did I kill you off? It was the contractual deal.' Like, if I had known that we didn't have to kill you off, I'd have kept you around. You're a great villain. So she still gives me shit about it, she's like, 'I can't believe you killed me off.' I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?'"

Shue cameoed in season five episode "Every One of You Sons of Bitches," returning as Homelander's Virgin Mary, but as Madelyn Stillwell, since it is his fantasy, which set him on his path to becoming THE God, one of several things filmed long before real life imitated art as much as the current Commander in Chief backpedals when his AI slop goes too far.

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