The Gross Reason The Boys' P.J. Byrne Returns On Gen V

The world of Amazon Prime's "The Boys" is finally back, this time in the form of the collegiate spin-off series "Gen V." While the new show focuses on an equally fresh set of never-before-seen (and mostly original) characters, a few familiar faces from the mothership series also appear — almost always for cringey reasons.

Possibly the cringiest among the many cameos on "Gen V" is Adam Bourke, smarmy Hollywood heavy hitter, close friend of Vought International, and director of the in-universe propaganda film "Dawn of the Seven," seemingly inspired by "Zack Snyder's Justice League." Throughout Season 2, the production is manipulated to protect Homelander's (Antony Starr) image and humiliate his co-stars, primarily Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott). Ultimately, the blockbuster undergoes extensive 11th-hour reshoots — primarily to whitewash Homelander's relationship with Stormfront (Aya Cash), who is recast with Charlize Theron — before being released at the start of Season 3.

By all accounts, "Dawn of the Seven" is a massive success — so why is Hollywood's hottest director teaching entry-level acting classes at the truly disturbing "X-Men" parody that is Godolkin University? Well, as Emma (Lizze Broadway) explains, Bourke is in "director's jail" for exposing himself to actor Minka Kelly. This twist is subtly ironic, for how it glancingly acknowledges both a real-world event and a meta-reference so buried that you have to wonder if it was even intentional.

The first and more uncomfortable reference Adam Bourke's return arguably makes is to the allegations of abuse that engulfed director Joss Whedon, who ended up taking over on "Justice League" for Zack Snyder after the latter suffered a personal tragedy. Though Whedon was not accused of sexual misconduct, his alleged on-set behavior and unprofessionalism (as reported by Vulture) were seemingly enough to achieve the same result — he has not worked on a project since stepping down as showrunner from the HBO drama "The Nevers" in 2020.

The choice of Minka Kelly, however, is amusing for decidedly lighter reasons. Given that Bourke's breakout work was "Dawn of the Seven," it's possible that he came into contact with Kelly during production on another superhero project — in real life, Kelly is best known to superhero fans for playing the DC Comics character Dawn Granger, aka Dove, opposite Alan Ritchson as Hank Hall, aka Hawk, on the Max series "Titans." But the meta-ness of this joke doesn't stop there.

Fans who have been following casting announcements for "The Boys" Season 4 should know that the series has added actor Elliot Knight to the cast in an undisclosed role. Coincidentally, Knight was not only a cast member of "Titans" but also the original Dove to Ritchson's Hawk. To name-check Kelly just ahead of Knight's debut in the same universe just feels too perfect to be an accident.