In a genre dominated by Marvel and DC, it's incredibly tough for any other superhero universe to get a look-in. However, Prime Video's subversive superhero show The Boys has managed to reach enormous heights, while offering viewers an entirely new, outrageously gruesome, incredibly vulgar series. And the story is great, too, of course.
With season 4 airing earlier this year, fans are aware that it's gonna be a long wait for the fifth and final installment. In fact, filming on the final season hasn't even started yet, but showrunner Eric Kripke recently offered an optimistic update on the status of the final batch of episodes. "We start shooting a week from Monday," he revealed during a For Your Consideration (FYC) interview, per Collider. "That’s less than two weeks.”
The decision to end the show at season 5 was a shock to everyone at first. I mean, we all know Kripke likes to keep his shows running for as long as possible; look no further than Supernatural, which ran for 15 seasons. As for The Boys, he didn't want it to outstay its welcome, and he ultimately saw season 5 as the most sensible way to wrap up the story, even if he is slightly in denial about it ending.
“I’m fortunate, in that I get to maintain my denial for quite a while because I’m so busy right now… Just the amount of work, it’s so busy that I think somewhere in the middle of the season, it’s gonna hit me, and hit me really emotionally," Kripke admitted. "I’ve been willfully denying it. It hasn’t totally sunk in. That will be hard.”
Kripke is also sensitive about The Boys not going on so long that it loses its punch. "The thing about The Boys is that it’s punk rock, and it hurts extra hard when punk rockers sell out," he said. "I'm really working hard not to sell out." That's especially true as the franchise expands with spinoffs like Gen V:
"We do these shows because we really care about them and we’re passionate about them. They can tell fresh stories that we can’t tell in The Boys and not just be about rapid expansion but be very careful and mindful about the choices we’re making and being able to defend why we’re making them. I worry about that every single day."
Funnily enough, despite marching towards filming the final season, Kripke reveals that he hasn't told the cast and crew how what their character's fates will be. "We’re far enough along that I can pitch out the character wide arcs, but they’re the emotional arcs, so the actors can start working on what their journey is and some of the twists and turns of what goes where," he explained. "Frankly, some of them we’re still working out, but we have a solid sense of where they all go, emotionally.”
The Boys season 5 is expected to premiere sometime in 2026. The final showdown between Billy Butcher and Homelander is poised to be pretty epic! In the meantime, the second season of Gen Z will land in 2025.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.