Alongside two new ‘superheroes’, Season 4 of The Boys also introduces Jeffrey Dean Morgan to the show’s mad world as a CIA agent with former ties to Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). A welcome addition to the show, Eric Kripke (The Boys‘ creator) has revealed just how important Morgan’s new character, Joe Kessler, is to the future of the show. The first three episodes of the new series have already dropped on Prime Video, drip feeding Joe Kessler to audiences, but the character will play a much larger role in the episodes to come.

During an interview with Variety, Kripke discussed Joe Kessler’s introduction in Season 4 of The Boys. During their brief conversation in Episode 1 of the new season, Kessler is introduced as being morally and comedically similar to Butcher, and that’s exactly what will drive Butcher’s arc forward in the coming episodes. Kripke described creating Kessler, saying:

“The notion came up reasonably early to have a CIA agent who was very much like a Butcher. Almost everyone in Butcher’s life is trying to pull him back and say, ‘Don’t do that, Butcher!’ And we said, well, what if there was someone in his life who was like, ‘No, you definitely have to do that. And go further, and go harder.'”

Joe Kessler is a character that appears in The Boys comics, created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. However, the version seen in Kripke’s series is vastly different to his comic book counterpart. Kripke revealed that both versions sharing a name is purely a nod to the comic books, saying “It’s more of a nod and feeling like we’re still in love with the comics and when we can have tie-ins, we’ll take them.”

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Was “Perfect” For The Role

Alongside Anthony Starr’s terrifying performance as the seemingly invulnerable Homelander, Karl Urban’s nonsense-filled performance as Billy Butcher is one of the show’s best aspects. Butcher is the personification of unfiltered violence, crude jokes, and intrusive thoughts, with the resources and skills necessary to kill superpowered beings, and Urban’s performance perfectly balances these aspects. As a result, finding someone who could match his chaotic energy and sheer screen presence, was a tall task for Kripke and the team behind The Boys. But the creator believes they struck gold when Jeffrey Dean Morgan agreed to take the role. Kripke said:

“So in effect, you need another Butcher. And it’s not easy to find someone who can go toe to toe with Karl, in terms of screen presence and charisma and danger. And luckily, that was the same time that Jeffrey Dean had let me know he might be available for that season. And I’m like, ‘Oh, thank God, because that’s perfect.’ You have somebody who’s got Karl’s weight and stature.”

The Boys‘ penultimate season has just begun airing on Prime Video. With the first three episodes currently available to stream, subsequent episodes are being released weekly, until the finale on July 18, 2024.

The Boys is available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the latest trailer below: