TV show cancels plans to film gory mass fight scene at site of Toronto van attack

Amazon Original series The Boys is getting some flack today after its creators were particularly insensitive — or perhaps just oblivious — to a particular tragedy that took place in Toronto last year.

The notoriously gruesome superhero show, which stars the likes of Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford and True Detective's Erin Moriarty, was set to film an especially gory scene in Mel Lastman Square today.

There wasn't anywhere else in the city (or the world) where this could have been filmed not on the site of a literal massacre?

— Brady Steeper (@bsteeper) November 5, 2019

The proposed setting for the 450-person scene involving an attack on a large crowd and "a considerable amount of fake blood" was uncomfortably close to the site where an incel drove up onto a Yonge Street sidewalk and intentionally plowed through pedestrians last April, killing 10 and injuring 16.

Toronto Councillor John Filion of Ward 18 Willowdale stepped in before filming began today to prevent what could have been a traumatic scene for those in the area who witnessed or were otherwise affected by the van attack last year.

Showrunners were thankfully open to changing their plans.

If you’re into @TheBoysTV - new season filming around dt Toronto again #TheBoys pic.twitter.com/drOxb8yBfC

— Karen Marie (@karenmarievee) October 16, 2019

It's unclear whether the cast and crew of the series — which has been filming its second season in Toronto since June — were ignorant of the potential set's proximity to the violent incident, or just didn't care.