Fans of the anti-superhero comedy thriller The Boys experienced a bit of whiplash as the critically-acclaimed program – available to anyone with an Amazon Prime Video subscription – prepared to launch its anticipated fourth season. First, we were very excited to learn that The Boys Season 5 already had been confirmed. But then we learned shortly after that that showrunner Eric Kripke, who has been presiding over The Boys since it launched, would use the fifth season as the final season, bringing the battle between The Boys and The Supes to a close.
As luck would have it, we managed to score some exclusive time with Eric Kripke on the day that it was announced that The Boys would end with Season 5. We posed the question about which storyline in The Boys that Kripke was most excited about bringing to a close, and his answer made the most sense. He explained to CinemaBlend:
I mean, really, the big epic storyline of The Boys has been this colliding of Butcher and Homelander, these two planets kind of crashing towards each other. And so that, to me, will be the most fun to finally bring to a head and finally resolve it.
That has to be the answer. For while The Boys has been very creative in terms of how it has built out the world of the comic that started with Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the core of the program has always been about Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher and his quest to bring Homelander (Antony Starr) to justice. The reason for this vendetta has evolved over the first three seasons of The Boys, and we have seen certain characters rise and fall in their importance with regard to this mission. The Boys Season 4 seems to be elevating the role of Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and introducing new protagonists. But it always has to return to Butcher versus Homelander.
But who will win? We tried to get a tease out of Eric Kripke during our conversation, asking him how he’d like to see the confrontation play out if, maybe, he wasn’t scripting the resolution. But he laughed and told us:
I can't answer that. I AM the guy writing it.
Fair enough. Just don’t make us wait forever to see The Boys Season 5. Yes, I know that we are just getting The Boys Season 4. But as Antony Starr told us while addressing the concept of superhero fatigue, audiences just want good storytelling focused on interesting characters and plot. We’ve embraced regular folks like Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), and cheered for an underdog Supe like Starlight. But I think the majority of us are turning into The Boys every season because we need know how a regular – and determined – human like Billy is going to prevail over a psychotic, super-powered threat such as Homelander.
I like the fact that The Boys has a finish line. It’s better than trying to drag a show out for longer than is sustainable. Now, let’s see how Eric Kripke lands this plane.
