‘The Best of The Boys’ Music Vinyl Collection Releases Today – with Two Jensen Ackles Songs!

‘The Best of The Boys’ Music Vinyl Collection Releases Today – with Two Jensen Ackles Songs!

spnfans

A three disc vinyl collection of the music from Prime Video’s series ‘The Boys’ releases today covering the music of all five seasons. Like another Eric Kripke show we know and love (that would be ‘Supernatural’ in case you didn’t know), the music of ‘The Boys’ has always been an integral part of its storytelling, thanks to Emmy Award-winning composer Christopher Lennertz (who was one of two composers on ‘Supernatural’ also). This collection has an original score by Lennertz and Matt Bowen, and some original  and cover songs performed by the cast.

The official release of Jensen Ackles’ cover of Blondie’s “Rapture” is included along with his memorable rendition of ‘From A Logical Point of View’, plus songs from Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Karen Fukuhara, Laurie Holden and of course Daveed Diggs from last week’s musical extravaganza. There are also liner notes from the cast and crew. The collection is pressed on 3x 140gm Color Vinyl.

“We’ve spent five seasons building a musical identity for this show, and the Best of The Boys vinyl is a love letter to that evolution,” say composers Christopher Lennertz and Matt Bowen in the press release. “Curating the collection was like watching the entire series again through the music alone — you can hear the score grow up, get darker, get weirder, and find its identity over five seasons. But Season 5 is where all of that paid off. Everything we learned over the life of this show — every instinct, every risk — we poured into this final chapter. The score has never been this big, this emotional, or this relentless, and we think the Season 5 soundtrack captures the most ambitious work we’ve done for the series — the tension is sharper, the emotional swings are bigger, and the music goes to places we never would have attempted in earlier seasons. It’s the most complete and fearless work we’ve done on the show, and we think it’s the score this finale deserved.”

Christopher Lennertz (and me) Comic Con 2019

‘The Boys’ is also known for its standout original songs, performed by the cast and woven directly into the fabric of the show’s storytelling to enrich the show’s iconic scenes. Lennertz went on to talk about Season 5’s music, saying: “Over the past four seasons, original songs have played an increasingly important part of The Boys’ storytelling, and this final season’s entry might be the pinnacle of that satirical insanity. After the success of “Let’s Put the Christ Back in Christmas,” we knew we had to go even bigger and better for the plot twist that would set the entire finale into motion. As soon as Daveed Diggs was cast as “Oh Father,” I texted [Eric] Kripke and said that it would be a crime if he didn’t sing on the show. Once Eric and the writers had the concept, I knew Daveed had to write the song with me to embody the authentic voice of this character he had developed. This season’s big original song release, “Raise Him Up,” became the most soulful and audacious anthem of Vought blasphemy that would exceed all of our expectations and finally ‘rise up’ and be worthy to represent the climax of Homelander’s unhinged hubris.”

If you missed it in last week’s episode, go check it out!

The collection also features artwork by Matt Ryan Tobin, who crafted packaging to make the set a collector’s item. Tobin gets the show’s appeal, saying in the press release that “This show is fucked up. It has me grossed out and recoiling one second, convulsing with laughter the next, before eventually ripping my heart out and bringing me to tears; and repeat. I can’t think of another show that recklessly toys with your emotions so much, yet so well. The music really pilots all of these emotions, and masterfully so.”

The collection is released by Mutant, whose co-founder Mo Shafeek said: “The greatest joy of The Boys comes from its stranger-than-fiction alternate reality where superheroes exist, but just about everything else about our world remains the same. Because of that, the world of music in The Boys universe, both diegetic and non-diegetic, is so compelling. What Christopher Lennertz, Matt Bowen, and their incredible collaborators have done for five seasons is worthy of celebration. We at Mutant are honored to bring the musical world of The Boys into the real world.”

Available for pre-order starting today at MadeByMutant.com.

If you’d like to read more about the music of ‘The Boys’, along with insights from the actors and psychologists into the complicated characters, check out the book ‘Supes Ain’t Always Heroes’ too, available at https://smartpopbooks.com/book/supes-aint-always-heroes/ with exclusive interviews from Jensen Ackles, Nathan Mitchell, Aya Cash and more (including Christopher Lennertz!)

Vinyl Track List:

Side A

  1. Never Truly Vanish Performed by Erin Moriarty
  2. Faster Performed by Jessie T. Usher, Aimée Proal
  3. Rock My Kiss Performed by Miles Gaston Villanueva
  4. Dream a Little Dream of Me Performed by Karen Fukuhara
  5. You’ve Got a License to Drive (Me Crazy) Performed by Miles Gaston Villanueva
  6. America’s Son Performed by Laurie Holden
  7. From a Logical Point of View Performed by Jensen Ackles

Side B

  1. Rapture Performed by Jensen Ackles
  2. Chimps Don’t Cry Performed by Laurie Holden
  3. Let’s Put the Christ Back in Christmas Performed by Shoshana Bean, Andrew Rannells, James Monroe Iglehart and Christopher Lennertz
  4. See Something Say Something Performed by Christopher Lennertz, Alex Karukas, and Baraka May
  5. Faster (Gospel Version) Performed by Bryson Camper, Baraka May, David Loucks, Cherise Thomas, Brittany Wallace, Princess Jones, Aja Marie Grant, and Christopher Lennertz
  6. Avenue V  Performed by Christopher Lennertz and Alex Karukas
  7. Stay Back! Performed by Antony Starr, Christopher Lennertz, and Alex Karukas
  8. Raise Him Up Performed by Daveed Diggs, Christopher Lennertz, Baraka May, Caleb Curry, Kadeem Nichols, Carmen Carter and Alex Karukas

DISC TWO

Original Score by Christopher Lennertz and Matt Bowen

Side C

  1. Truck Robbery
  2. Homelander and Stillwell*
  3. Boys Arrive*
  4. Hughie Trashes Room*
  5. Hospital Shootout
  6. Break Every Bone
  7. Meeting Blindspot
  8. Homelander in Hallway
  9. Halloween Store
  10. Fake News
  11. Brother and Sister*
  12. The Vial
  13. Shootout

Side D

  1. Not Ready
  2. Dawn of the Seven
  3. Termite Fight and Rescue*
  4. Soldier Boy
  5. Home for the Super Abled
  6. Butcher Sold Me*
  7. Soldier Boy vs. Homelander*
  8. This Is About Loyalty
  9. Maeve’s Ultimate Sacrifice*
  10. The Only Way I Could Save You*
  11. Homelander’s Dream

DISC THREE 

Original Score by Christopher Lennertz and Matt Bowen

Side E

  1. I Can Do Anything / Finale
  2. Vought Through the Years
  3. Bat Mitzvah Rock*
  4. Mirror Mirror
  5. Training A-Train
  6. Final Audition
  7. Virus
  8. Ol’ Dealey Plaza
  9. Family Is All You’ve Got
  10. Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite
  11. The Democratic Church of America
  12. Cast Those Demons Out
  13. Soldier Boy Reborn
  14. Meet Quinn
  15. Cowboys and Jesus

Side F

  1. Passing the Crown
  2. Kessler
  3. The Speech*
  4. It Has Always Been You
  5. Blood and Bone
  6. The Wreckage
  7. To the Tower
  8. Canary in the Coal Mine
  9. Goodbye

Mutant is a pop culture art, music, and collectibles shop headed by creative director veterans Spencer Hickman, Eric Garza, Mitch Putnam, and Mo Shafeek and CEO Jenny Jacobi, a division of the genre-bending production company SpectreVision.

Check out the music collection and then get ready for the series finale next week!

–Lynn

You can read the book that takes a deep

dive into The Boys, with insights from its

actors, composer Chris Lennertz, artist

Darick Robertson, and  many more at:

Supes Ain’t Always Heroes

‘The Boys’ Penultimate Episode – with some Surprise Guest Stars!

‘The Boys’ Penultimate Episode – with some Surprise Guest Stars!

spnfans

The Deep, Ashley, and the Cost of Getting What You Think You Want

The penultimate episode of the final season of ‘The Boys’ is called ‘The Frenchman, the Female and the Man Called Mother’s Milk’, which makes sense considering some of the pivotal things that happen. It kicks off, though, with a musical! All the kudos to Chris Lennertz and Daveed Diggs for the opening number with Oh Father and his scantily clad dancers reminding everyone that Homelander is now bigger than Jesus, totally American, and ready to get rid of anyone who doesn’t conform (all served up with some blatant sexuality while no doubt preaching something puritanical).

As they’re working on that propaganda piece, we finally see the scene that was teased long ago, Homelander sitting in the Oval office, feet up on the desk.

He gives the president his marching orders — DCA will be the official sanctioned church, every boundary between church and state will be dissolved, and troops will be sent into every sanctuary city that took in Starlighters…

(Yes, I had to stop and scream about how RIGHT this show got its predictions for like the hundredth time because wow)

Because he’s Homelander he also wants to outlaw any milk that’s not actual milk and make breastfeeding mandatory lol. (Hey, I’m a big breastfeeding enthusiast but come on, Homie… I guess that’s the point though, he doesn’t give a damn whether or not it’s even possible for everyone).  It’s good for me to have scenes like these to remember just how unhinged and uncaring and narcissistic this crazy dictator parody is, no matter how good Antony Starr is at sometimes making him so sad. He also wants to disband Congress, which the President says he doesn’t have the authority to do. Uh oh. One tiny bit of doubt and you are in danger of being taken out; that’s how dangerous Homelander is, and how easily his ego is bruised. Homelander asks Ashley to read the President’s mind to see if he’s a true believer. He yanks off Ashley’s wig and exposes Back Ashley, who says the president is terrified of him and thinks he’s “a tiny bit psychotic”.

That’s that – the president’s head is smashed in and Homie is covered in blood, which he wipes all over the gold embroidered furniture. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd now Ashley is President!  Back Ashley tries to be the voice of reason, but Ashley marvels that she lost every single student council election, if only all those people could see her now. She’s trying hard to just enjoy it, but Back Ashley keeps pointing out the cost – that she can’t sleep, that she’s yanking out her hair, that she hates herself.

Back Ashley finally gives up and leaves, which is what Ashley thought she wanted – but now she is well and truly alone.

She’s not the only one whose relentless loyalty to a corrupt regime and dictator has left her anything but happy.  The Deep apologizes to Homelander for killing Noir, who he insists was saying some really mean shit about Homelander.  Homelander says it’s fine – then announces he’s abolishing The Seven, who haven’t had seven members in a long time (a recurring joke in the fandom). Deep tries to get Homelander to give him The Seven, citing his loyalty, ending with “please, the Seven is all I have”.

Homelander coldly says don’t make this about yourself and wishes him the best. The Seven is now The One.

Cut to a giant mural of The Seven on the side of a building being repainted – to just Homelander.

The Deep sits on a dock drowning his sorrows and throws the can carelessly into the water.

Zander the shark swims up and says he should come in and grab it – Zander (played by none other than Samuel L Jackson!) tells him to get in the water, that they know he’s responsible for the March 15 genocide. He finally sets out a threat: If he steps one foot in the water anywhere, all aquatic life will make sure he’s killed. It’s kinda a fate worse than death for the Deep. But damn, he really ended up deserving it. The ultimate sell-out.

As he’s pondering what to do, people on the beach start clamoring for him to save an old man who is drowning, his PR person reminding him this is his whole brand. He looks on in horror knowing he can’t as the old man sinks, people recording it all on their phones.

Read more →

‘The Boys’ Episode 6 – On Being Human (With an Ending Twist)

‘The Boys’ Episode 6 – On Being Human (With an Ending Twist)

spnfans

There has been a lot of discourse about this season of The Boys not having enough action or “not enough happening” while I’ve been eating up the deep dive into characterization every week. To the extent that showrunner Eric Kripke had to address it in interviews wondering if people are expecting them to just constantly blow things up – and adding if that’s what the expectation is, you’re watching the wrong show.

I wrote a whole book about the complex characters and deep themes in this show, that’s how much I appreciate its depth, so I am not watching the wrong show. And not surprisingly I liked this episode, “Though The Heavens Fall”.

WARNING – SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 5.06!

Golden Geisha and Kimiko and Hanging Onto Humanity

The Legend is back, hiding out in a movie theater working the concession stand (I love that they have a The Deep popcorn bucket – wasn’t this written long before all those memes about the Dune popcorn bucket and what teenage boys might actually use it for? Is this Kripke prescience again??  It also made me snort that The Deep has his mouth wide open and just waiting for people to shove their hand in there, which was oddly reminiscent of what he did to Starlight way back in Season 1.  Also the recently deceased Firecracker does a spot on parody of Nicole Kidman’s ultra sincere “the movies will save us” advertisements for it.

The Legend is hiding from Vought due to all the intel he has, fondly reminiscing on who he’s fucked and who he’s been fucked by (Marlon Brando…) but when MM tells him Bombsight has the V1 he’s convinced to help (tho he points out that MM sounds like Butcher now, threatening to cut his balls off).  Homelander’s new church crusade messed up his sweet life too.

Hughie is still arguing that they wait longer to try get V1 before they set off the supe killing virus Frenchie completed to kill Homelander (and the rest of the supes, as in Annie and Kimiko). The Legend suggests they can get Bombsight to bring it to them by going after the love of his life, Golden Geisha, who now lives in Vought Villages supe retirement home (because of course it’s The Villages…). They find her but Kimiko is reluctant to hurt her or the others, saying she doesn’t want to hurt a bunch of old people. Butcher insists they’re not people, and MM agrees. The Legend again questions what’s happened to MM, saying it’s like he’s gone crazy. This is a theme of the episode – what does it mean to be human and how do we hang onto that humanity in the face of unspeakable horrors?

They kidnap Goldie, escaping after a fight with some of the old supes who nevertheless still have powers. One guy has giant balls that he can whip around to fight with because of course he does, we need our nod to twelve year old boys. I felt for the guy. Butcher chokes him out with his own balls, but Kimiko stops him from killing the guy.

Golden Geisha claims she doesn’t know where Bombsight is. Butcher wants to torture her but Kimiko is kind to her, helping put her slipper back on and apologizing for what they’re doing.

Kimiko: I watched every episode of Undercover Geisha even though those were racist stereotypes – it meant so much to see someone like me on TV.

A little nod to the importance of representation in media.

Kimiko realizes that Bombsight stole the V1 for Goldie so they could be together forever, but she didn’t take it. For him, watching her get old would be too painful, but for her? To live forever would be torture. Golden Geisha gets the most memorable line in this episode – Summer is only beautiful when you know winter is coming.

Well written, David Reed. (I enjoyed his work on ‘The Magicians’ too).

Frenchie realizes that Kimiko feels that way too. She tells him that she and Annie don’t want to die but they don’t want to be vampires either – but they’ll do it for him and Hughie anyway.

Hughie and Annie and the Rare Good Dads

On the way to the church where they’ll let loose the virus, Annie and Hughie pause to lie on the car hood and cloud watch, like Sam and Dean stargazing on the Impala. Hughie insists she’s not dying, that they’ll have plenty of time to look for filthy things in the clouds, and Annie marvels at his unshakeable hope and asks how he manages it.

Hughie: Whenever I’d get upset as a kid, which was a lot, my dad would say life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react. I spent a year in an internment camp and had no control over anything. So fucking angry, hearing my dad’s voice in my head. I finally understood what he meant — the only thing I had left was hope. And it is really fucking hard to hang onto but I, I’m trying.

Annie: I think you might be lowkey the strongest person I know.

I love Hughie so much, I will really miss him when this series ends. Jack Quaid did such a great job showing him as just quintessentially human, flaws and all. What he learned from his dad reminds me of Viktor Frankl, the psychologist who lived through being in an actual concentration camp, discovering while there exactly what Hughie’s dad did – if you can’t control anything else, you can control how you make sense of it and how you react to it.

Hughie’s dad was a good dad.

(I put together a whole book that tackles the theme of fatherhood, toxic and otherwise, in ‘The Boys’ if you’re interested in exploring more. Hughie, Butcher, Soldier Boy, Homelander… almost all of the complicated characters have daddy issues, and it was fascinating to take a look at them with psychologists, media experts and the actors portraying them. Link at end of article for more info).

Read more →

‘The Boys’ Delivers a Supernatural Reunion – And So Much More!

‘The Boys’ Delivers a Supernatural Reunion – And So Much More!

spnfans

As a long-time fan of both Supernatural and The Boys, my anticipation for this week’s episode has been off the charts for what seems like forever. I’m definitely one of the fans who would love a Season 16 of Supernatural or a feature film or an 8 episode streamer or pretty much whatever, but I’m also happy to see “my boys” onscreen together in anything else in the meantime. Witnessing how they talked about filming together and how much fun they had (and how much chaos inevitably happened) only made me more excited – they filmed a year ago, so it seems like we had to wait an inordinately long time to actually SEE it. But guess what? The episode, and what I’ve been calling the “Supernatural Reunion”, did not disappoint! I found myself either yelling “oh nooooo” or just laughing my head off during the entire sequence, which was full of surprises.

Some fans of The Boys were skeptical about all the fuss being made about the Supernatural reunion, fearing it would take away from the final season of the show (which only has 3 more episodes) but the episode was also the most highly rated by press viewing the early screeners – and I think deservedly so. It definitely moved the plot along in multiple ways, and it lived up to the calendar blood-splatter warning that some main character(s) would die. Spoiler alert, lots of people (and supes) die in this episode!

It’s also a genre departure as a pov episode, in that it devotes a chunk of time to many of the characters, exploring their perspectives on Homelander as God, on where their loyalty lies, and on some of their struggles with what it’s cost them to keep going along with Homelander no matter what.

SPOILER ALERT – MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 5 AHEAD

FIRECRACKER

Spoiler alert, the main supe to die is Firecracker. Valorie Curry outdid herself in this episode, making the character nuanced enough so that you feel for her even as you loathe what she’s doing, and what she’s refusing to see. Kripke told TVLine that Firecracker is an allegory for all the loyalists who go along with a dictator demanding allegiance, compromising their values, and then end up “hoisted on their own petard” anyway. There’s really no pleasing someone like Homelander, on the show or in real life, as we’ve seen time and time again.  As Kripke put it, “nothing will ever be enough, it doesn’t matter how much you give up.”  In Firecracker’s case, it’s everything she once sincerely believed in.

At first, things seem to be going well for Firecracker. She makes her case to Homelander and the Seven with an advertisement full of cowboys and horses and guns and the stereotypes of Americana, presenting the “massive growth” in popularity of their new religious movement, led by white men and women of course.

Soldier Boy (looking down at his crotch while giving her a smirk): I’m seeing massive growth myself…

gifs justjensenanddean

He is so massively gross it sometimes circles back to oddly endearing.  And he really likes to talk about his dick. And other people’s dicks, for that matter. Homelander does not miss that interaction though, and he doesn’t like it. He also isn’t happy about being called a prophet when prophets are servants and he is the saviour. His delusion is getting to the point where even his followers keep making missteps, misjudging just how deranged and grandiose he’s become. Most of his accolytes go along with everything he says, each of them trying to out-pander the others. Firecracker wins him over, though, kneeling in front of him worshipfully and handing him something physical that will appeal to his ego – the Homelander Bible, complete with a raised gold figure of himself right on the cover.

Homelander (impressed): It’s heavy…

Soldier Boy (eyeroll)

It is, of course, AI written. Two years ago Kripke and company sure saw that coming!

It seems fitting that this is who has it now…

Homelander agrees to do it her way. Sister Sage reminds them that their plan will generate widespread civil unrest (does this seem familiar??) – no worries, Homelander says, they’ll just recall all the supes stationed overseas. After all, “American heroes should be protecting America, not Whogivesafuckistan!”

Fresh from her victory, Firecracker goes back to her hometown in Florida to meet with the reverend of her childhood church (who happens to be the marijuana growing grampa on Sheriff Country…)  He was a support to her as a child, making sure she got at least one hot square meal a day, but now his church is losing people to the Democratic Church of America and the supe Praying Mantis is intimidating them by spraying acid out of his butt to melt their stained glass windows.

She asks why he doesn’t just pay the franchise free and join them; he says they can’t even afford their water bill. The reverend reminds her of what she doesn’t want to recall – Homelander isn’t God and the things he can do aren’t miracles, and she’s still the same Misty Tucker Gray.

Cut to a grunting, naked Soldier Boy on top of Firecracker, and now every Jensen Ackles fan has a gif (or 3) of his “O face”.

Firecracker: We ain’t doin’ that again.

Soldier Boy: That’s what you said the last six times.

He lights a joint which is so very Soldier Boy, and hotter than anyone wants it to be. He senses she’s a little out of it and is worried, though I’m not sure if it’s because he’s a considerate lover or it threatens his ego if she didn’t.

Soldier Boy: Did you nut? Because you usually nut…

The answer appears to be no, since she changes the subject and asks if he was baptized. He says yes, in front of half of Chestnut Hill by Gov. Sproul, and then his family kept up appearances but never set foot in church again.

(I got distracted by the fact that Chestnut Hill is right down the road, having forgotten that Ben grew up nearby. Didn’t they need some on location filming for Vought Rising??)

Anyway, she asks if maybe Homelander might go easy on the reverend who practically raised her.

Soldier Boy: So you didn’t nut.

Read more →

Jared, Jensen and Misha Tease This Week’s ‘Supernatural’ Reunion on ‘The Boys’ – Plus Kripke on Why His Two Shows Go Together

Jared, Jensen and Misha Tease This Week’s ‘Supernatural’ Reunion on ‘The Boys’ – Plus Kripke on Why His Two Shows Go Together

spnfans

This week The Boys hosts something that Supernatural fans have been waiting for a long time – Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins onscreen, together again. It will be the first time the three have shared a screen since their many years together on Supernatural as Sam, Dean and Castiel.  For Supernatural fans, this feels like a momentous occasion.

The three gave fans some rather tantalizing tidbits of information about the upcoming episode at a Supernatural convention in Rome this past weekend.

Photo Happytortuguita on X

Eric Kripke is of course the common denominator between the two shows as the creator of Supernatural and the showrunner who adapted The Boys comics into a series. Jensen Ackles joined as Soldier Boy in Season 3 and has been making fans conflicted about loving and hating him ever since.

Fans figured out last month that Jared Padalecki will be playing Mr. Marathon from a photo on the wall when we caught a glimpse of the character in a promo, because nothing gets by motivated fans!

Jared confirmed it at a convention shortly after – which prompted Kripke to go out and confirm it too, saying that he had wanted a meaty part for Jared that was important to the story arc. Jensen Ackles has said that he was nervous about bringing his two friends onto The Boys – not because he worried about their performance, because he knew they’d be great, but in the way a dad worries about his son going up to bat. Picture him across the set going “come on guys, you can do it!”

Apparently they did.

Kripke recently confirmed that Padalecki had ‘crushed it’, unsurprisingly.  We also know that Mr. Marathon is a far cry from Jared Padalecki, who has said the character says and does things that he would never do. He’s a douchebag and a cokehead, reminding many people of the fanfic Kripke read many years ago featuring a cokehead Jared and an assertive Kripke and let’s just say it wasn’t rated G and that I may or may not know more about how that all happened…

That was a long long time ago, as Supernatural was in its earliest seasons. This was Kripke back then, the first time we met him – baby Kripke!

Photo Lizz Sisson

Anyway… Collins’ role hasn’t been officially announced, but there are plenty of rumors that he might be Mr. Marathon’s partner and perhaps a supe named Synergy.

Looks like Soldier Boy is not a fan.

That would be an awesome (though probably tragic) twist for all the Mishalecki fans out there.

Jared and Misha have been having a great time teasing the possibilities.

Soldier Boy still not a fan.

Photo Chris Schmelke

Padalecki joked at the Supernatural convention in Rome this weekend in response to a prompt about getting naked – “next Wednesday on The Boys!”

Now that might just be a joke, but on the other hand, Ackles has already been sans clothes for Soldier Boy’s debut and the show is famous for Herogasm, so who knows?!

Padalecki and Collins also resurrected their long-running joke about “influence” on each other from an earlier convention in Rome, with influence being a bodily fluid that’s also not G rated, when answering a question about The Boys episode.

Jared: There’s quite a bit of influence going on… I mean, not as much because we’re older, but…

Misha: I think quite a bit of influence on each other… in each other? In this episode there’s more bodily fluid than…it’s a lot…

Ackles rolled his eyes at his two friends’ antics while fans cheered.

Muriel Forir Photography
MyConPhotography by Anika

If all those teases aren’t enough to whet your appetite for this week’s episode, I don’t know what would – as someone whose favorite shows are Supernatural and The Boys, I can’t wait!

I’ve had some great conversations with Eric Kripke over the years about both shows and the similarities between them (the resistance in both comes in the form of plain old humans who are willing to go against the odds and keep fighting).  So on the eve of this momentous occasion, I thought I’d share some excerpts from my interview chats with Eric over the years about the two shows and how they intersect. It’s a history of the Supernatural-The Boys connection as we get ready to make that connection a lot more direct!

I first asked Kripke about the similarities between his brand new show The Boys and his long-time show Supernatural at San Diego Comic Con way back in 2019, before Supernatural had ended.

Eric:  This show is also about family. It’s about the boys, who are the good guys in this show. They’re the heroes because they stick together and show each other loyalty and have each other’s backs and they’re willing to admit vulnerability and weakness. They’re scared and they’re outmatched and they’re outgunned but they’re taking on these powerful forces. Not dissimilar to the way Sam and Dean would take on monsters and demons. What I love is that the heroes of the show are the ones who express vulnerability and weakness and can be imperfect, but we spend a lot of time building the iceberg under the water with the emotion and the satire.

That was enough to get me excited about the show and I’ve been watching ever since.  I had the chance to chat with Eric in depth about The Boys shortly after that Comic Con. I pointed out that both Supernatural and The Boys begin with an everyman inspired to get revenge after the love of his life is violently killed (Mary burning on the ceiling and Robin mowed down by A Train). In the case of The Boys, that comes from the comics, but the show captured it.

Eric: Now that you’ve pointed it out, there are similarities to that. Robin dying in The Boys is taken almost frame for frame from the comic book so it’s funny, that hadn’t really occurred to me about that connection, because in The Boys the instigating incident is so infamous for anyone who’s a fan of the books. It was my job to capture it as faithfully as possible and that’s mostly where my head was, but yeah. Also, I think where they’re similar is there are a lot of tonal and thematic similarities. In a lot of ways, The Boys is a hard R Supernatural.

(Something many Supernatural fans would not mind at all!)

Read more →

Everyone Goes Darkside in ‘The Boys’ Episode 4 ‘The King of Hell’

Everyone Goes Darkside in ‘The Boys’ Episode 4 ‘The King of Hell’

spnfans

Not gonna lie, as a Supernatural fan I was waiting for Mark Sheppard to show up as Crowley after the title of this episode appeared – alas, we didn’t get a Crowley cameo. From the reviews, some people were critical of this episode that “nothing happened to move the story forward” but I 100% disagree. This episode gave us the kind of insights I crave the most – the emotional and psychological ones. It didn’t move the story forward a great deal if the ‘story’ is ‘get the V1’ but to me the fascinating story is that of the characters and their relationships, and we got A LOT of insights about that.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE BOYS EPISODE 5.04!

How to Sell a Lunatic as the New God

Samaritan’s Embrace is bankrupt and Homelander is convinced he’s a God, and those two things work together to make a dark statement about religion and power as The Boys continues to reflect some of our darkest reality in a truly disturbing way. Homelander continues to fascinate me as he uses his hallucination of Madelyn and the delusions of grandeur that followed to move ahead with his plan to be the savior of the world. He’s still very much obsessed with his own family though, the episode opening with him sadly looking at a phone of him and Ryan and then accusing Firecracker of smelling like Soldier Boy (which he’s absolutely correct about).

He tells Firecracker that he was visited by an angel who foretold his destiny.

Firecracker: Well praise be – what is it?

When he answers ‘God’, she thinks he means serving the lord, but he quickly corrects her. He won’t be serving the lord, he’ll BE the lord. The messiah.

Homelander is making sense of his tragic life and all its hardships as the price he’s had to pay for being special and destined to be god, and he’s convinced Firecracker saw it all along and she’s not about to dissuade him. Therefore, he informs her, he’s chosen her to spread the word – since they control the media.

Homelander: Jesus would kill for our marketing.

Firecracker: WTF face

(This is a theme throughout the episode, which is peppered with small humorous moments like WTF faces to break up the too-close-to-reality darkness).

We get a typical The Boys scene intended to make most people say ‘ewww’ with Ashley and Oh Father, who married for PR but have discovered that she loves punishing him and he loves being punished, so they make enough noise to disgust the guards at the door and send his ball gag flying with enough force that it breaks the wall when he screams in ecstasy, ‘Back Ashley’ enjoying the show as voyeur. She reads his mind when he’s unguarded though, and realizes that the church is bankrupt.

Just then Firecracker shows up and gets to deliver a Soldier Boy-worthy gross line – “Dang, smells like a wet shit in a Waffle House in here”.

I admit that got the “ewww” the show was going for.

Some of the Seven minus Homelander and Soldier Boy meet at Vought Tower to brainstorm how they can make Homelander being God palatable to the masses.

Worm: What we need is a good story, who’s read Joseph Campbell?

I like Worm. Bring him some tasty dirt, someone.

The PR lady, on the other hand, does not like Worm, saying no wonder his last film got a low rating on the AV Club (which is a real thing and a nudge at fandom ala what Supernatural used to do in its meta episodes, so it made me smile).

Worm: I had to service fourteen main characters and cross over a bunch of assholes – you try to make a good finale out of that!

(Writers getting meta and putting a writer character into the canon, it’s the series’ last season after all and Kripke has spoken openly about being worried about fan reception of the series finale – he didn’t write the ending to Supernatural, but that finale certainly came with a range of reactions!)

It’s Firecracker who comes up with the idea that they need a church that preaches America and convinces the masses that the real American hero is Homelander, and he’s their savior. The Democratic Church of America. Voila, kill two birds with one stone, rescue her hubby’s failing church and find a way to get people to accept Homelander as god.

I am sincerely shocked that doesn’t exist with exactly that name already, to be honest.

Fathers and Daughters

A variation on the theme of fathers and sons that has so characterized this season and this show, Annie pays her estranged father a visit. I know some people thought this was a needless detour but I loved exploring her backstory more and finally knowing what the real story was with her dad. Turns out he’s remarried and Annie has a half brother, Mason.

Annie: WTF face.

Read more →

The Boys Episode 3 Tackles Intergenerational Trauma – with a Punch!

The Boys Episode 3 Tackles Intergenerational Trauma – with a Punch!

spnfans

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE BOYS SEASON 3 EPISODE 5!!

Also warning for lots of Soldier Boy, since this is originally a Supernatural website and we might enjoy lots and lots of Jensen Ackles characters. You’ve been warned!

“Every One of You Sons of Bitches” was a tough episode to watch. The theme of fathers and sons and how that can go wrong, and the repeated depiction of intergenerational trauma, plays out in vicious fashion. Literally hard to watch at times, but the episode left an impact (yes, figuratively too).

And we got a lot more Soldier Boy, which is always a win in my book.

Soldier Boy Joins the Seven

Soldier Boy officially joins the Seven, going along with Homelander’s plan at least for now, with the propaganda machine working smoothly to get the public to revise their negative view of him. “America’s first hero, defender of liberty, branded a traitor by legacy media, scapegoated by Starlight, Soldier Boy has been reborn.”  Apparently he was working with “our friends in Russia” to rout out traitors in Ukraine, as evidenced by a photo op of him shaking hands with Putin.

The Deep notes that Russia was the first nation to not put up with trans bathrooms, which sounds like it should be a ridiculous thing to say except over the several years since this season was written, it’s unfortunately gotten even more believable as something we might hear on TV.

Ashley presents Soldier Boy with the “democratic medal of patriotic freedom” and he beams, his narcissism well fed. Seriously, how many times am I going to watch a scene in this show and be able to call to mind another REAL one that looked exactly the same??  Some silly made up honor and a big gaudy gold medal placed around some narcissistic leader’s neck while he grins like an idiot.

 

Sorry, Soldier Boy, but oof.

Both Antony Starr and Jensen Ackles say so much with their facial expressions and posture in this scene. Soldier Boy accepts the honor, which Homelander probably played a part in setting up, but as he watches his father soak up all the glory, you can see that it pains him. He can never allow anyone else the limelight without feeling like it should be him (Soldier Boy is the same way, as Black Noir found out the hard way).

Homelander expresses everyone’s gratitude to Soldier Boy and says they hope “he can forgive us as he takes his rightful place in the Seven.”  That’s a bit of a Freudian slip, as Homelander is at the moment worried about Soldier Boy’s more personal forgiveness – he’s afraid that his father has not forgiven him for sending him after Butcher clueless about the supe-killing virus that almost took him out.

Homelander also can’t resist sharing that he’s also very proud to say that “this great hero is my father” – Soldier Boy looks ambivalent about making this public, to say the least.

When they’re out of the public eye, Homelander tries to butter his father up, saying he’s still got it, that social media is blowing up, calling them “America’s sexiest dynasty.”

This show’s intersection with reality is so ridiculous, this could be an actual People cover or a fan-made creation and I would believe either explanation!

Soldier Boy is not amused.

He has been silent this whole time, but the look on his face is chilling. (The chapter I wrote about Soldier Boy in the book on ‘The Boys’,  ‘Supes Ain’t Always Heroes,’ dives into Ackles’ extraordinary ability to convey more information with his face than most people can with a page of dialogue, and he shows that here.)  Homelander insists he would have never sent Soldier Boy in if he knew Butcher had the virus – and reminds him that he said not to engage, so it’s not really his fault anyway – but you can clearly see that none of this is convincing to Soldier Boy.

Homelander is lying about not knowing, but he did apparently tell his father not to engage – the farthest someone like him can go to protect someone he cares about (even if that caring is mostly just selfish).

Soldier Boy never says a word, but looks scary as hell – and pissed. Narcissists do not do well with betrayal and it’s clear he feels like Homelander betrayed him. It’s an Achilles heel for him, people he trusts betraying him, and something that keeps happening – as Soldier Boy doesn’t exactly inspire loyalty. That’s the Catch 22 of being a narcissist, desperate for people’s love and approval but constantly holding them to standards that they’re bound to fall short of and being such a dick that they inevitably betray him. (It’s a pitfall that both father and son are falling into, with Homelander taking it up to a whole other level).

Setting Up Vought Rising: V1

‘The boys’ figure out that Soldier Boy wasn’t killed by the virus because he has V1 in his bloodstream as Frederick Vought’s first iteration of Compound V. Which means, as MM puts it, “this motherfucker is unkillable.”

Sage explains the same to Soldier Boy. It only worked on a handful of supes – Bombsight, Torpedo, Private Angel, him and Stormfront. To Soldier Boy’s questioning look, she explains that’s Dr. Vought’s wife Clara.

Sage: I think you know her as Liberty.

The look that passes over Soldier Boy’s face at learning that speaks volumes, setting up some of the plot for Vought Rising starring Soldier Boy and Stormfront/Liberty. They clearly have a history and I cannot wait to find out what it is!

V1 is why Soldier Boy doesn’t age. Homelander asks hopefully if he too is immune to the virus, but the answer is no. (Back at the boys HQ, Samir clarifies the same thing – and that if Homelander gets his hands on some V1, he’d be immortal too. The boys vow to find some V1 before Homelander can).

Homelander to Sage: Bring me some.

I liked the way these parallel scenes were shot, with both the boys and the supes figuring it out at the same time, and both determined to get some V1 for their own uses.

Read more →

‘The Boys’ are Back – Season 5 Kicks Off with the Return of Soldier Boy!

‘The Boys’ are Back – Season 5 Kicks Off with the Return of Soldier Boy!

spnfans

The Boys Are Back!

One thing about waiting for literally years between seasons of a show you like is – it builds up A LOT of anticipation! So let’s just say I was really excited to finally watch the season premiere of the fifth and final season of The Boys. I’ve been watching since the very beginning – I’ll give any show a chance that has Eric Kripke’s genius attached to it, and I was captivated by The Boys from the start because of its eerie reflection of what was already happening all around us. The comics began the tradition of calling out things that are wrong with our society, but by the time the series aired, the reflection started to seem less like fiction and more like reality. Season 5 was mostly written well before the last election and there’s no way Kripke and company could have known how disturbingly close to home some of the story lines would hit right now – but I’ve said more than once that the man is eerily prescient. As I watched the first two episodes, I can’t even count the number of times I started swearing out loud “OMG how could they be so spot on?!” or “This is impossible, Kripke how did you anticipate THIS??”   It’s certainly not a good thing that a show meant to be an over-the-top parody of all that’s gone wrong in modern (especially American) society ends up feeling so realistic and relevant, but it makes me feel better that someone else is seeing it too. That’s a first step to maybe stopping it, right? Right??

And yes, that’s a theme in the show too. You see why I love it so much?

Season Five Premiere – Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Prime Video released the first two episodes of the new season on Wednesday, so what follows is a spoilery review of how the new season kicks off and how our favorite (and not favorite) characters are doing. If you haven’t watched yet, you may want to come back when you have – I love this show and I love digging deep into it and its complicated characters, hence the spoiler warning.

Homelander’s Crisis Continues

The season premiere kicks off with spectacle, which is fitting for The Boys. It’s a full on mega church moment as Homelander appears at the Vought shareholders meeting to the religious ecstasy of his followers – I mean, shareholders. Promises of a safer, more God fearing nation…. Does this sound familiar yet? Meanwhile, Starlight disguised as a Firecracker backup dancer is hacking into the system – suddenly the footage of Flight 37 appears onscreen of Homelander callously threatening the doomed passengers as he looks on horrified in the present.

His eyes start to glow ominously, and then Sister Sage shakes her head to calm him down. I immediately thought, they’ll probably just say it’s AI – and sure enough, that’s what they do. Remember, this was written years ago, but they get it right anyway, solidifying people’s willingness to disbelieve what their own eyes see if it’s an inconvenient truth. Memes making fun of the “AI altered footage” hit the internet; Homelander points out that he has seven fingers in the altered footage. How did they know that would be such a thing?

Peter Thiel gets a shout out as calling Sage for advice, the little bits of reality name dropped just making it all more eerie. She’s fine with the ongoing conflict the leak caused. Homelander, predictably, is not. What he cares about is being worshipped – he’s more pressed about the unflattering memes about him than how his ratings are.  In fact, he says, posting those kind of critical memes should be a crime. (Yes, I was yelling about how spot on the show is once again at this point).  Homelander can’t stand being disrespected, his fragile ego too brittle to withstand it.

“I need people to be devoted to me,” he whines.

I can’t help but feel a little bad for him even as I’m horrified by him. He’s so DAMAGED. In the season opener, Homelander continues the psychological crises that plagued him in Season 4, knowing everyone around him has their heart rate skyrocket when they’re near him because they’re all afraid of him. His handy dandy little maternal fixation with Firecracker has dried up too (as did her milk once she stopped taking the drug that was damaging her heart to make her lactate).

Antony Starr is brilliant in making the strongest man in the world look exactly like a petulant toddler who’s been denied his favorite toy.

Homelander isn’t too happy with the other supes who are still loyal to him either. The Deep has a podcast because of course he does, along with Black Noir version 2. He’s all about the “men’s lives matter” and staying away from women because “bitches like Starlight make you weak”, claiming he’s never felt manlier.  Later he spreads his bare legs for an overhead camera to sell his red light for the perineum contraption, which if you recall was a real thing on the internet for a while with guys out there sunning their perineum. Homelander calls in the Deep and Black Noir after the Flight 37 video debacle, demanding to know why they let Starlight get away and haven’t found A Train or Butcher. He wraps his hands around their throats as he hovers over them like a predator, the stage manager who was working the shareholder meeting dead (and decapitated) beside him as a visual warning. Antony Starr is very very good at making Homelander very very scary – the fact that he’s unhinged combined with all that power and the sadistic desperation is a terrifying combination. Apparently the stage manager liked some Starlight posts, and that’s why he’s dead.

(The whole liking social media posts can get you killed thing, btw, is too close to home right now, but spot on once again).

The Deep doesn’t hesitate to offer up his phone to have his social media posts checked, sycophantic to the end (or at least so far).   He’s not pleased with Noir not backing him up, reminding him that he’s not the real Noir, he can talk! Noir remains both silent and mysterious. Ominously so.

Back home, Homelander stands in front of the capsule holding his bare-chested underwear-clad sleeping father, which is in his living room. He sighs. (Yes, that description is relevant, as are the many Soldier Boy photos and gifs that will inevitably grace this review – this is originally a Supernatural website, after all…)

Read more →

Supernatural Creation Cons 2026 – First up, Vegas!

Supernatural Creation Cons 2026 – First up, Vegas!

spnfans

Vegas was the first con of 2026. It had been a few months since the Supernatural fandom had been together with the cast, so there was extra anticipation for this one. It’s a long flight for me, which is never fun, and it was late, so I didn’t get there until later in the day on Friday, missing lots of the Friday fun unfortunately. Also unfortunately, Jared Padalecki wasn’t able to be there, and we were all missing him. (But excited that he was filming a movie!)

There were some guests we don’t usually get to see, including Emmanuelle Vaugier (Madison the werewolf).  Barry Bostwick, who was in the Supernatural episode ‘Criss Angel is a Douchebag’, was also there, signing autographs in the vendor room just a few tables down from mine. It was surreal having someone who starred in something so formative in my very younger days – The Rocky Horror Picture Show – hanging out and chatting. Curtis Armstrong (Metatron) was also in the vendor room right down the aisle from my table, and we got a chance to reconnect and share a hug.  We all hated his character, but I love Curtis – and I’d love to see him do a panel again too!

I caught a little of the ladies panel with Emmanuelle, Alaina Huffman, Kim Rhodes, Briana Buckmaster, Emily Swallow and Samantha Smith.

Samantha Smith: It wasn’t fully scripted when Dean and Mary look in the Impala. It was like Dean remembered being conceived there…

Briana said that her last episode on the show was surreal, because it was all of them not knowing when Covid would shut them down.

Sam is used to her character being controversial.

Sam: I have people come to my table and say, I hate your character!

Alaina: Sometimes people come up and say, you’re my hall pass, and I’m like um, nice to meet you?

Emily imitated how some people come up to her and recognize her and say “It’s the Darkness!!”

I did not make the trek all the way back to the ballroom, which was approximately 25 miles away, for karaoke, but I hear it was a good one!

Saturday was Misha Collins day. Misha said he’s trying to learn piano, but doesn’t want to practice. My thirteen year old self can so relate.

What would he like to be like if he was younger?

Misha: I have five children in my house a lot of the time and they’re always eager to learn, and I’d like that back.

He re-told the classic Jensen Ackles walks into an electronics store and the clerk just points across the room and there’s a table with a giant portrait of him in Skittles for GISH!

He tried to show the photo on his phone but it didn’t work out well.

Misha: I didn’t expect to have Jensen’s face in my crotch here…

Read more →

‘Public Domain’ Premieres – Adding some Supernatural Fun to Your 2026!

‘Public Domain’ Premieres – Adding some Supernatural Fun to Your 2026!

spnfans

One of the highlights of last year’s con season was getting to attend the premiere of the pilot of Public Domain, Matt Cohen’s new creative project that stars lots of Supernatural actors.

The premiere came with a viewing and a party at the last Austin convention.

Matt hosted along with talented writer Sean Flanagan.

There was cake and goodies and lots of excitement – and then lots of laughs because Public Domain is hilarious!

I loved its humor and I also loved its biting commentary and how much I could relate to many of its characters. They might be (former?) Hollywood stars and I might not be, but the things they’re struggling with are the same things we all have to confront sooner or later.

Alex Calvert joined me in the audience, which gave Matt an opportunity to call him out and ask if he’d be in a subsequent episode (of course, he said yes). That also gave the woman sitting on the other side of him a heart attack when she realized she’d been sitting next to Alex Calvert!

I caught up with Matt via Zoom last month to get his thoughts on the premiere and the reception to Public Domain, and to share how much I loved it.

Lynn: What was the response to the Public Domain premiere after people watched it either in person or online?

Matt: The responses have been great. The pilot episode or the first episode of anything isn’t my favorite, because you’re setting up all these characters, all the potential, but you have to know all their names by the end of it. So this pilot sets up middle aged, washed up, kind of once-iconic, let’s call it teen star or young 20s star, and now they’re all waiting for their second chance in Hollywood.

Lynn: Middle age or worrying about getting there, that’s probably something a lot of people can relate to.

Matt: Much like myself, right? I’m a guy who worked on a show called South of Nowhere when I was a kid, in my early 20s. It was great, and I didn’t know what I had at the time or I would have cherished it more.

Lynn: I think that’s the case for alot of us when we look back on our twenties!

Matt: So they all had this bright, budding circumstance of wow, I’m gonna make it in Hollywood, or Tinseltown as we like to call it on Public Domain. They all had some success, but Hollywood is a real beast of a machine and it can really eat you up. Our show delves into that, it’s a little bit of inside baseball of Hollywood, almost Entourage in the way we’re peeling back the curtain – industry jokes, treatment, mistreatment, and the misinformation within the world of Hollywood that everybody thinks is oh-so-glorious. It’s a struggle like anything else, and I think the people who’ve watched the premiere have kind of related to what we’ve done.

Lynn:  I know I did. And it’s such a great idea, they’re all familiar characters – who are quite literally in the public domain.

Matt: Yes, and there’s some nostalgia in seeing characters that have existed for your entire childhood and then being able to re-see them as a somewhat different and more relatable reality. A character that is struggling, has ups and downs, has disabilities, has mental illnesses and things to overcome. Why should any Disney princess or your favorite animated cartoon character differ, right? Or you hear a curse word and all of a sudden that character becomes a little more authentic to you, or you see a little bit of weakness in a character’s decision making and you’re like wow, okay, I relate to this character.

Lynn: I definitely did.

Matt: And my big pitch with Public Domain has always been that you don’t have to sit down and learn 50 new characters – you’ve watched these characters your whole life, we’re just gonna open up a little bit of their story with some of the questions that haven’t been allowed to be asked. Like, what happens if the Little Mermaid and King Kong go on a date?

Lynn: It humanizes them, but the show also has these kind of universal messages about aging and looks and power and manipulation and obsession with celebrity, and how that impacts all of us really. Yes, it’s inside baseball, and you get a lot of insight from a very different perspective on Hollywood, but it’s also just human. There were so many things in the pilot that I can relate to, and I’m not an actor, but it’s universal.

Matt: All applause to Sean Flanagan, the writer, he’s got a good finger on the pulse of Hollywood-meets-this-weird-animated-sitcom, we love these characters, so what are our version of these characters, and how do we connect that with people? And it’s Cheers. Cheers is the connecting tissue – what Cheers taught us is that if you have a thumping heartbeat of a place for these people to be, everyone wants to come to this place, because that’s where you celebrate, or that’s where you drown your sorrows, from the beginning of time to now.

Lynn: Yes, still very true

Matt: Cheers would allow you to walk in as a guest star of the week or whatever, and they’re in the home setting. So now you’ve got a new character who opens the door and it’s what’s their story, why are they here? Who in this home setting is gonna help them or nurture them through whatever they’re going through, and does that evolve into a love arc or a second B storyline in any way?

Lynn: It’s a perfect way to introduce everyone and then start exploring that character.

Matt: A bar is a place for people to talk. Next to a therapist’s office, which is one of my favorite places on Earth.

Lynn: Mine too since I’m a therapist…

Matt: The bar is a lot of people’s therapy, in a way. It’s a dark atmosphere where you come in, you meet a stranger, and you can talk and they can talk, you share perspectives. I want to hear all these characters’ perspectives on who they are, why they’re here, who they love, what Hollywood taught them and what it did to them, and how they’re going to get up and move forward and always keep fighting.

Lynn: You don’t gloss over the fact that these characters are struggling, which again, I think most people can relate to. Public Domain stars many of the actors who you worked with on Supernatural – it’s a treat to see so many fan favorites getting to work together again! Have the actors seen the finished product?

Matt: Some have, yes. Jake Abel (Adam), Briana Buckmaster (Donna), Ruth Connell (Rowena), I got to ask them after they saw it and they really loved it. My goal was to get everybody a job again, and that’s exciting to put who I think are some of the most talented people on TV in something that could evolve into a really fun animated comedy where everybody has a job they can do alongside their other jobs. They have other roles or they’re working on other things, but they can do a voiceover, basically record it on your iPhone from a quiet spot. Over the pandemic I thought okay, we’re not going back to sets and we can’t get close to each other, so the idea of doing an animated show with the cast of Supernatural was just something I loved. They played strong characters in live action shows, so now let me allow Richard and Rob and Ruth and Briana and all these people to play iconic animated characters and tell their stories the way they would never have been able to.

Lynn: They all did such a great job too, like really getting absorbed in the characters but recognizable voices.

(In addition to Jake, Briana and Ruth, Public Domain stars Jim Beaver (Bobby), Rob Benedict (Chuck), Richard Speight, Jr. (Trickster/Gabriel), Adam Fergus (Mick Davies), Tahmoh Penikett (Gadreel), Chad Lindberg (Ash), and Gil McKinney (Henry Winchester), and features music by Louden Swain. There are lots of SPNFamily involved too, including a character based on Krista Martin, who we all loved and who we lost way too soon. Big shout out to my friend Abby DiLeonardo, who’s so talented and who has done such an awesome job on getting the word out about Public Domain with her great social media content!)

And of course, it also stars Matt himself as proprietor Shep Salazar. Who also has great hair.

Matt: My big note to everybody was please allow the audience to know it’s you. Then do whatever you want, whatever your imagination can serve up to you within these characters. Like you see Jake Abel took on this doofy, muscle-y guy thing (as Hercules) that is just so fun. And I’m the one kind of straight man through the whole thing – Shep Salazar is the original character we created for me to host all these hooligans at the bar and help them through their thing.

Lynn: As a huge Supernatural fan, I love that you got so many Supernatural actors involved

Matt: My dream is that each and every one of my Supernatural friends can be on this show. It’s not locked into Supernatural, but that will be the heartbeat of the show. And when I can get a Jared and a Jensen, we’ll have those roles. As the project hopefully gets picked up and we can order more episodes, I can start cameoing my big friends – our Jeffrey Deans and our Jensens and our Jareds and our Mishas. That’s to come, and we’re saving some iconic Public Domain roles for some of your favorites.

Lynn: How many characters are in the public domain?

Matt: There are 100 plus available, from Phantom of the Opera to Cthulhu to Frankenstein, God, all the Disney princesses, all the Winnie the Pooh characters, Popeye… just so many fun characters. I want to be able to put a paycheck in the pockets of all the people who have been by my side for so long and do something that’s fun and creative and also earn a little bit of a living while we make entertainment and serve up this really fun cartoon.

Lynn: Well, it really is. Do you have a plan going forward?

Matt: Sean has gathered some interest from a couple different people, without spoiling too much, Danny McBride has an animation company, Ryan Reynolds has an animation company… I think inevitably Public Domain will get picked up and land somewhere and we’ll be able to shoot more episodes.

Lynn: I can’t wait! But you’re a busy man, you have a lot of other projects going on too.

Matt: Sean and I took on like twelve different projects at once – our feature film Exes just got worldwide distribution in the first quarter of 2026 so we’ve had to go back and add some things to the movie, so that’s been on our plate and we’ll roll into the new year with the release of that movie. I also just did a movie called Christmas At The Zoo for the last few weeks in Chicago, where I play a zookeeper who’s very passionate about what he does – it’s a big Christmas love story, and that will be out in 2026 too.

Lynn: Oh that’s awesome! And aren’t you on a soap opera now too?

Matt: Yes, I’ve walked into Genoa City and I am Young and Restless-ing as Detective James Burrow. I’ve done a handful of episodes and am shooting some more, so we’ll see how long they want to keep me around. Right now it’s a lot of fun. They created a character for me based off of Idris Elba’s in Luther, so my detective is dressed very cool, he’s kind of got some real unique swagger, where you don’t know if he’s a good guy or a bad guy in all situations. But he usually comes out on the right side of things.

Lynn: Intriguing. And it seems like they must be pretty invested in that character.

Matt: I’m certainly invested in it! It’s probably the coolest I’ve ever looked playing a character, and because it’s the soap world, the payoff of moving at the pace they move is, I love that idea of you gotta show up really prepared because you’re gonna get one or two shots at this scene, and if you mess it up, that’s on you. I kind of like that, it’s like being live on the stage.

Lynn: I would hate that, I’d be so anxious, omg what a nightmare!

Matt: It’s my favorite thing! Doing the Supernatural conventions have made it my favorite thing on Earth, to be up on a stage not knowing what happens next. I just love it.

And I think we all know he’s very good at it.

I can’t wait to see more Public Domain episodes, and I can’t wait to see Exes, and Matt as a passionate zookeeper in a Christmas movie, and I can’t wait for more of dapper Detective James Burrow. Lots to look forward to – for now, go watch the premiere episode of Public Domain and sound off in the comments about what you like about it!

Watch the pilot here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm35G48YCZg

And check out some of the Supernatural cast recording their characters here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbCydZSBC9E

Happy New Year from Public Domain – and from me!

— Lynn

You can read Matt Cohen’s inspiring and

personal chapter about his journey on

Supernatural in ‘Family Don’t End With

Blood’, info on that book and more books on

Supernatural on the home page here or at: