Over the years, The Boys supervillain Homelander (Antony Starr) has become one of the most universally despised characters in the genre. Of all the characters that fall into the "Evil Superman" archetype, from Brightburn to Omni-Man, it's Homelander who's the most talked-about.
Looking ahead to the fifth and final season of Prime Video's The Boys, Homelander is more unhinged than ever. With people like Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and a newly-Suped Ashley (Colby Minifie) out to kill him once and for all, fans can expect a bloodbath from start to finish. As the show has proved time and time again, no level of vulgarity or gruesomeness is off the table.
While it's hard to have sympathy for someone as pathologically evil as Homelander, showrunner Eric Kripke recently weighed in on the fundamental tragedy of his story. "It’s sort of tragic, actually, but ultimately, the guy just wants someone to love him," Kripke told TV Insider. "He tries amassing all of this power just so someone somewhere will love him, but they’re all scared of him because of all that power."
Homelander isn't the only Supe plagued by loneliness. "I think the same goes for Soldier Boy," Kripke added. "[Homelander] just wants a dad to love him and be proud of him."
Soldier Boy, if you forgot, is the first superhero ever created, and technically the father of Homelander, even though the latter was mostly grown and raised in a lab. Soldier Boy will be back in The Boys season 5, once again played by Supernatural alum Jensen Ackles. As for how their relationship continue to develop, Kripke teased:
" "Without spoiling anything in Season 5, I would say, because the revelation that Soldier Boy was his father came so late in Season 3, we never really got the chance to play it, but actually playing this father-son relationship between those two characters, there’s a lot of material to mine there and a lot of fraught emotional turns. So we’re able to dig into that in Season 5, and it has been a blast watching those two actors play off each other in the dailies."
Soldier Boy was put back into suspended animation at the end of season 3 after a not-so-pleasant encounter with his biological son. Their relationship can only improve from there.
The Boys will continue to challenge authority in season 5
Lastly, Kripke weighed in on whether season 5 continues to hone in on being a cruel, satirical reflection of the real world. "I mean, yes, we set out to be this funhouse mirror reflection of what we’re seeing in the world," he said. "Another metaphor is we like to be like the kid in the back of the classroom throwing spitballs at authoritarian — authority — figures because that’s healthy."
The Boys season 5 is currently in production. It's likely to release sometime in 2026. However, later this year we'll see the return of spinoff Gen V for its second season. Prime Video is also readying another spinoff called Vought Rising, a period piece which will follow Soldier Boy and other early superheroes at the dawn of the industry. And they're working on a Spanish-language spinoff set in Mexico, and we can't forget about the already-made animated spinoff show Diabolical, which you can stream on Prime Video right now. So while The Boys will wrap up with this next season, the world of The Boys isn't going anywhere.