The Boys, Season 4: The Series Engine

“...If Season 1 of The Boys is about the corporatization of America and the effect of misinformation on our society, and Season 2 is about the resurgence of white nationalism, and Season 3 is about the de-mythologization of America’s past, then what is Season 4 going to be about? When he gets to Season 4 of The Boys, there's not a lot left in showrunner Eric Kripke's pocket. We've been through three seasons, we know exactly who Homelander is, at least as Eric Kripke sees him. As brilliant as it is as an allegory, it creates a challenge in the engine of The Boys, because every season of The Boys has been built around the idea that we know what “good” and “evil” are… and then exploding those ideas.  Sowhat Eric Kripke does as a showrunner is go back to theme. And this time, in Season 4 of The Boys, he chooses a much more personal perspective on right and wrong.. In Season 4 of The Boys, we're not dealing with our nation's past. We're dealing with our personal past. Each character, nearly every main character in the piece, (and there are a lot of them now), is now dealing with the past. Not our national past, but their personal past. Each character is now having to look at the question: are we actually heroes? Or have we actually done things along our path to becoming the kind of heroes we want to be that cannot be forgiven? That cannot be escaped? He's asking the question of how do we, as a nation, deal with that. How do we heal from the trauma of the past that we have all just been through together? And how do we as individuals heal from the traumas of our individual pasts now?...” In this episode, through a deep script analysis of Season 4 of The Boys, you’ll learn how to build a series engine across multiple seasons of your own TV series, plus: * Theme-driven storytelling in television * Character evolution across multiple seasons * Allegorical storytelling in TV writing * Crafting socially relevant narratives * Maintaining narrative tension in long-running series * Balancing genre elements with character depth * Writing complex villains in TV series * Adapting storytelling techniques for different seasons * Exploring personal vs. societal themes in screenwriting * Creating multi-layered character arcs * Integrating current events into fictional narratives * Developing consistent yet evolving story engines * Writing morally complex characters in TV series * Crafting emotional payoffs in long-form storytelling Join Jake for free every Thursday night at Thursday Night Writes, RSVP here and check all of our classes!