As principal photography on The Boys Season 2 nears completion, one especially bloody scene had to be filmed elsewhere after complaints by the Toronto City Council.
According to a scene description from the production, a sequence slated to be filmed in Toronto's Mel Lastman Square involved a rogue superhero attacking an assembled crowd. In the carnage, hundreds of extras would have been doused in fake blood and run away screaming. The planned filming location was near the site of a terrorist attack that used a van to target pedestrians, killing ten and injuring sixteen in April 2018. As a result of the lingering trauma for many in the area, Toronto City Councilor John Filion had the production relocate elsewhere to film the scene.
"I flipped out. There are people who work in this building, who went out onto Yonge St. to try to help the van attack victims -- many of them are still traumatized. And think about the families and loved ones of those victims," Filion explained in an interview with the Toronto Sun. "I made some phone calls and that second portion was cancelled.”
City of Toronto spokesperson Brad Ross echoed Filion's stance, noting there had been complaints from residents over the planned shoot. For Filion, the relocation was about respecting the victims and responders to last year's tragedy.
"It’s not about confusion. It’s about people literally reliving those events. It’s disrespectful to even think of it," Filion continued. "Even if nobody had seen anything, it’s still disrespectful. I guess somebody just wasn’t thinking.”
The Boys stars Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie, Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk, Tomer Kapon as Frenchie, Karen Fukuhara as the Female, Erin Moriarty as Annie January, Chace Crawford as the Deep, Antony Starr as Homelander and Simon Pegg as Hughie's dad. A Season 2 premiere date has not yet been announced.
via TV Guide