It seems like every animated feature these days stacks its cast with celebrities for the sake of star power, and thanks to T he Boys Presents: Diabolical, that practice may have finally found its ideal use. As a bonus, it looks as though the big names involved seemed to have as much fun recording for it as audiences enjoyed watching it.
The Boys Presents: Diabolical is an animated anthology series that serves as a spinoff to Amazon Prime Video's The Boys. But as wacky and unhinged as the side series may seem, it's actually an important part of the overall story and even provides some essential backstory for Homelander, the main show's villain. With so much stock put into the spinoff, it makes sense that the folks in charge would put a similar amount of effort into its presentation.
Diabolical employs an impressive array of animation styles, with each episode featuring a different studio, similar to how Star Wars: Visions worked with various anime companies. But along with the visual aspect, a lot of work also went into the audio: namely, the voice acting. Now, Prime Video has released a behind-the-scenes look at the recording process for the series, and it may surprise some viewers. Sure, watching a voice acting session is always a genuine treat, but some people may be caught off guard when they realize just who was behind some of their favorite roles in the spinoff.
The video shows off clips from a number of Diabolical episodes, giving unfamiliar viewers a glimpse at the wide array of animation styles at work. Several actors are shown, including a good chunk of stars from The Boys like Giancarlo Esposito (Vought CEO Stan Edgar), Dominique McElligott (Queen Maeve), and Chace Crawford (The Deep), among others. But along with them are some big names whom some may not have expected, such as Don Cheadle, Simon Pegg, and even an appearance from Seth Rogen before his rather impactful recent cameo on The Boys proper.
Diabolical may seem like a fun little side bit at first, but much like The Boys itself, it hides some deceptively deep themes and poignant references. However, unlike The Boys, it's also a little more focused on the wacky nature of its medium, which shouldn't be surprising to anyone who immediately recognizes Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland's animation style in his respective episode.
As previously mentioned, however, it does provide some crucial context for some of the events in the main series. So anybody who hasn't seen it yet might not want to sleep on it. There's a lot to be said for the power of animation, and somehow complementing the cartoonishly over-the-top nature of The Boys is one such point in its favor.
The Boys and The Boys Presents: Diabolical are both available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Prime Video/YouTube