The Boys creator talks a potential spin-off for season 4's best new character: "Who wouldn’t want to?"
Joe Kessler spin-off show? We're here for it
Jeffrey Dean Morgan made his series debut on The Boys season 4 – and creator Eric Kripke wouldn't mind giving him his own spin-off show.
"Hey, man, if Jeffrey wants to do it, and it works out, who wouldn’t want to [do a] Jeffrey Dean Boys spinoff?" Kripke told Deadline.
Morgan plays Joe Kessler, a CIA Case Officer who hadn't run into Butcher for some 11 years – though the two definitely have a long history. The actor's casting was announced back in 2022, with Kripke saying that Morgan was a "super fan" of the show.
In the comic books, the character is a CA analyst named Howard Kessler and is referred to as 'Monkey' by the Boys for an incident that took place at a brothel. Suffice to say that the TV version is quite different.
Kripke says the goal with Kessler was to create another Butcher, one who wants to push him forward and give him a new lease on life.
"To pull that off, you need another leading man, you need someone who’s as charismatic and good as Karl, and let those guys go toe to toe. Thank God this was all around the time that Jeffrey and I were texting," Kripke said, explaining the significance of Morgan's character.
"We had been looking for a part for him for while. Now, he was finally available, and once this part came up in the room, I was like, 'Oh my god, this is the planets aligning on this particular part – and they did.'"
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The Boys season 4 is now streaming on Prime Video. For more, check out The Boys season 4 release schedule and the best shows on Prime Video.
Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.