Back in March, we got the tragic news that 27-year-old Gen V actor Chance Perdomo had passed away after a motorcycle accident.
Perdomo had been a major part of The Boys spin-off series, and his character, Andre Anderson, was going to feature heavily in the planned second season.
Showrunner Eric Kripke and the show's producers recently put out a joint statement confirming that another actor would not be brought in to play Andre, and the season would instead be "re-crafted" to pay tribute to Perdomo.
"As we continue to navigate the tragic loss of Chance Perdomo, everyone at Gen V is determined to find the best way to pay respect to his memory. We won't be recasting the role, because no one can replace Chance. Instead, we have been taking the time and space to re-craft our season 2 storylines as we begin production in May. We will honor Chance and his legacy this season."
During a new interview with EW, Kripke reveals that they were only a week away from shooting when Perdomo died, but he feels that completely revamping the story to work without Andre was "the least we could do."
"I really feel for the actors because they were such a family. I know it's really hard on a lot of them."
"It's been challenging, to say the least," Kripke went on. "We were a week away from shooting when Chance passed away tragically. So we had to almost rethink everything, and in just a matter of weeks. But what I tell people when they say 'wow, that's really crazy or difficult' [is] that pales in comparison to what his friends and loved ones are going through. It's the least we could do."
How season 2 of Gen V will play out without Andre obviously remains to be seen, but the upcoming fourth season of The Boys might give us a better idea of what to expect from his fellow Godolkin Supes Marie, Jordan, Emma, Cate and Sam after the explosive events of the Gen V finale.
Gen V is partially based on the "We Gotta Go Now" story arc from The Boys comic series, written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Darick Robertson. The show takes place between the events of The Boys season 3 and 4.
In Gen V, the students at Godolkin will be "put their physical and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the school’s highly coveted top ranking. They quickly come to learn that ambition comes with sacrifice, and the difference between right and wrong is not as clear as they once believed. When the university’s dark secrets come to light, the students must come to grips with what type of heroes they are going to become.”
Gen V also stars Shelley Conn, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sean Patrick Thomas and Marco Pigossi. The series guest stars Clancy Brown and Jason Ritter, while Jessie T. Usher, Claudia Doumit, Colby Minifie, and P.J. Byrne reprise their roles from The Boys.