The Boys creator found “new way” to do Kessler-Butcher twist

The Boys Season 4, Episode 6 features a fantastic twist involving Joe Kessler and Billy Butcher, but according to showrunner Eric Kripke, it very nearly didn’t happen that way.

CIA Agent Joe Kessler plays a prominent part in Season 4 of The Boys. As played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kessler used to be a soldier, which is when he became acquainted with Butcher.

Episode 6 features a big reveal about his character, and in a new interview with Variety, showrunner Eric Kripke has explained how it came about, and why it was nearly very different.

So beware of The Boys Season 4, Episode 6 SPOILERS AHEAD…

Turns out, Kessler is dead, and Butcher is seeing and talking to him via hallucinations from the Temp V he’s taking. Meaning The Boys pulled a Sixth Sense.

“I think every time that someone turns out to be imaginary, the first draft is always like another character walks into the room and says, ‘Who are you talking to?’” Kripke said of the twist.

“So I’m sure that was our first draft when it was originally up on the board, Hughie walks in and he’s like, ‘Who are you talking to?’ But we said, ‘Well, everyone’s done that, so can we do something different?’ And Becca is this imaginary character. So what if the two imaginary characters just start yelling at each other? And that would be a new way to do that kind of reveal.”

Twists like this also typically happen at the end of a story, as per Fight Club, and the aforementioned Sixth Sense. Not so for The Boys.

“We were always going to reveal it in Episode 6” added Kripke. “We didn’t want to save it for the end of the movie. Because now Kessler has this new role to be literally the devil on his shoulder, and really be twisting the knife and saying really cruel things to Butcher that all happen to be totally true – which is always great when your villain can be a real truth-teller.”

The Boys Season 4 Episodes 1-6 are streaming on Amazon Prime Video now. You can find out when the next episode drops with our guide to The Boys Season 4’s release schedule. 

We’ve also got guides on The Boys Season 4’s most shocking moments so far, whether Kimiko dies, and how the Gen V timeline fits in. And keep tabs on new releases with our guide to the TV shows streaming this month.