What Happened To Butcher Between The Boys Season 1 And 2 Revealed
A new short film explains exactly what Butcher was up to.
This article is more than 2 years old
Season 2 of The Boys is off and running to critical acclaim. Fans are eating it up as well, even though there is much controversy on how season 2 is being released to the public. Putting that aside, all signs are pointing to a wonderfully gory and crazy second season. But there is one question that nags and begs to be answered. What happened to the Butcher?
If you haven’t seen season one of The Boys and wish to, spoilers follow, so read at your own peril.
The Boys twitter feed posted a short film that explains what happened to Butcher in-between seasons. You can watch the whole short film right here:
Season 2 begins decidedly void of William ‘Billy’ Butcher, which may throw avid fans off a bit because when we last saw Billy, he was just finding out that his wife was still alive. He also found out that she had a child that wasn’t his, but Homelander’s (Antony Starr). He also saw that Homelander had just killed Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue), the scheming vice president of Vought International. So one would think, with that sort of cliffhanger at the end of season one, that season two would pick up Butcher’s story. That thought would be wrong.
Season two picks up with the gang trying to move forward without Billy’s leadership. There is infighting, there is deceit, there are lies. The boys are a very dysfunctional group. Hughie, Mother’s Milk, and Frenchie, along with Kimiko, attempt to save their own skin as they are now on the most-wanted list. All the while, fans are left to wonder just what happened to Butcher, especially since Homelander is seen quite often in the first few episodes.
According to the show’s creator, Eric Kripke, they shot scenes telling the Butcher’s story and it was meant for play during episode two but was eventually chopped out because they felt the pacing of the story was lacking. The footage itself wasn’t lost or thrown away; it was manufactured into a short film aptly titled Butcher: A Short Film. It will be fairly clear after you take a gander at it, why the scenes were cut. Pacing definitely could be considered an issue for those of us with a short attention span. What it does do, though, is fill in the blanks that need filling in. Pacing be damned.
The short film begins with Billy waking up seemingly in the middle of traffic somewhere. It then follows him to find out that he is a wanted man in connection with the murder of Madelyn Stillwell. Now on the run, Billy the Butcher finds himself at the home of an old military mate, whom he asks for help. At first, his old mate is more than willing to help a friend. Then things go bad for both men when Billy’s buddy finds out Billy is wanted for murder. Mayhem ensues as both men use their vast military skills against each other. It definitely ends badly for one of them.
This all leads to Billy rejoining his team in grand fashion. Obviously, there is more to the mystery as questions still need answering. At least we now know where Billy was and how he got back to The Boys. The rest of the answers, well, we are just going to have to wait…week by week.
