Gen V showrunner Michele Fazekas opened up about how the second season of the college-set superhero series would honor late cast member Chance Perdomo.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly at San Diego Comic-Con, the producer explained how paying tribute to Perdomo and his character Andre Anderson was top of mind going into the sophomore installment of The Boys spinoff.
“[That was] probably the No. 1 thing we wanted to do,” Fazekas said of commemorating the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina alum. “Just watching the show and watching even just the trailer for it … we did it so long ago and I remember being in the writer’s room and talking about how important it was to honor him. And then when you watch the show, he exists throughout the entire season. It was, in many ways, about Andre and about Chance. And, yeah, I’m very proud of that actually.”
Perdomo died as a result of a motorcycle accident at age 27 on March 30, 2024, the day the Prime Video show was supposed to reconvene for the first table read of Season 2, resulting in a production delay and the ultimate creative decision to not recast the role in the wake of his death. In May, as production recommenced, the show’s producers said they would instead “refract our Season 2 storylines” in order to “honor Chance and his legacy.”
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In Season 1, Perdomo played a Supe with magnetic manipulation abilities — the same as his father Polarity, portrayed by Sean Patrick Thomas. The trailer for the second season, released yesterday at Comic-Con, depicts the young heroes’ quest in stopping Godolkin University’s unsanctioned and inhumane testing facilities, and alludes to doing so as a way to honor Andre. As viewers may recall, Season 1 ended with Andre’s capture, alongside friends Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Jordan (Derek Luh/London Thor) and Emma (Lizzie Broadway).
Of Gen V and its tie-in to mothership The Boys, Fazekas told the SDCC crowd while unveiling the trailer: “The shows talk to each other. So Season 4 of The Boys sets up Season 2 of Gen V. So now, Homelander has taken over America. Now, we get to see what that looks like — what that looks like the country, what that looks like at the school, and then what the resistance is going to start looking like.”
As such, audiences can expect plenty of cameos and overlap between the two worlds, with the trailer featuring Annie January (Erin Moriarty) and last season including Antony Starr’s Homelander and Karl Urban’s Butcher. Season 2 will also feature the reprising guest star appearance of The Deep (Chace Crawford) and new additions Hamish Linklater as Dean Cipher and Ethan Slater as university founder Dr. Thomas Godolkin.
Gen V premieres on Prime Video Sept. 17.