The Boys is many things: one of the best superhero shows, a flagship series for Amazon Prime Video, and one of the most provocative shows on TV. It is no surprise that its spinoff is as wild and graphic. In episode 5 of Gen V, we had several memorable moments, particularly involving a puppet fight sequence. Between hiring puppeteers and coming up with the idea in the first place, insight from executive producer Michele Fazekas reveals how the series pulled it off.
In the episode, titled Welcome To The Monster Club, Sam (Asa Germann) is on the run and hiding. When security from the supe university swoop in, they come in unprepared for his state of mind. He starts hallucinating once again, seeing puppets of not just guards but himself and characters who are not actually present in the scene. The result is a level of violence you would expect, but it is all done without humans. When he snaps out of it, Sam is covered in blood, and we see the reality of the carnage.
How Gen V Episode 5 Created a Puppet Fight Sequence
In an interview with Variety, Fazekas broke down the thought process that led to one of the most creative and bizarre fight scenes in both The Boys and Gen V. Like anything in either series, everything, no matter how provocative and graphic, must come “from a real place of drama and emotion and character.” The goal was to “show Sam almost decompensating.”
Writing something on paper is different from executing shooting a scene on set. Thankfully, the head of the makeup department of Gen V, Colin Penman, had puppet experience for the fight scene. After that, VFX and puppeteers completed the scene to make it work.
“We hired puppeteers to come in and help us because we built that set. You can’t really go out on location and shoot something like that. The puppeteers wore a green sort of body sock, and then we erased them in post. I couldn’t believe that.”
Executive producer of Gen V, Michele Fazekas via Variety
Between both shows and the animated anthology series Diabolical, The Boys universe has built up a fleshed-out superhero world while also being a franchise that holds nothing back. The college spinoff had gone into places of university conspiracies, girls with dolphin blowholes having sex, and a closeup of a penis exploding.
Gen V episode 5 is the latest in the debut season. Episodes release on Prime Video every Thursday at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.
