While the flagship series The Boys is preparing to take its final bow with Season 5 on April 8, the franchise itself shows no signs of slowing down. The “Vought-verse” continues to expand with a third season of Gen V currently in development, alongside the highly anticipated prequel Vought Rising and the international spin-off The Boys: Mexico. However, one experimental branch of the property appears to have reached a dead end: the animated anthology The Boys: Diabolical. Showrunner Eric Kripke previously indicated in a 2025 interview that the series had been shelved.
Interestingly, Diabolical showrunner Simon Racioppa recently provided a more nuanced perspective, telling Polygon that the series wasn’t exactly “canceled” so much as it was completed as originally intended.
“It was always envisioned as a standalone project,” Racioppa explained during a discussion regarding the fifth season of his other acclaimed animated series, Invincible. “We produced it within a tight ten-month window, primarily to give the audience fresh content while the primary series faced pandemic-related production delays.”
Premiering in 2022, The Boys: Diabolical explored the franchise through various visual lenses and narrative tones across eight episodes. The project featured scripts from original comic creator Garth Ennis, creative duo Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland. Racioppa’s “one-off” description contrasts slightly with Kripke’s earlier comments to The Wrap in October 2025, where he expressed a desire for more episodes.
“I don’t anticipate a second season of Diabolical,” Kripke noted at the time. “It isn’t for lack of trying on our end. Ultimately, I believe the viewership figures didn’t quite reach the threshold required to greenlight a follow-up, which is unfortunate because we’re very proud of it.”
While Racioppa remains preoccupied with Invincible—which returns for its fourth season on March 18—he hasn’t entirely abandoned the idea of revisiting the world of The Boys in animated form.
“We certainly have concepts,” he teased. “There is immense narrative potential in that universe. Much like Invincible, there are endless stories worth exploring, though I don’t have any official updates to share at this time.”
Source: Polygon
