Spoilers ahead for the penultimate episode of The Boys.
The Boys is a truly wild superhero project, and arguably one of the best Amazon Prime shows on the streaming service. Those with an Amazon Prime video subscription are currently watching the show's fifth and final season, and its penultimate episode, "The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother's Milk," was a doozy. It also included a wild cameo from Samuel L. Jackson, with the show's creator Eric Kripke explaining how it went down.
The Boys Season 5 has been steadily building its tension, and Episode 7 featured a huge character death. But it also had Sam Jackson voicing a seriously angry hammerhead shark named Xander, who threatened to kill Chace Crawford's The Deep if he ever entered the water again. Kripke spoke to Polygon about how this wild cameo came together, saying:
We wanted a really distinct voice and who has a more distinct voice in Hollywood than Sam Jackson? So we just went to his agent. He was our first choice, and we were like, Does he want to do this? It was really just taking a flyer. But then it came back, Oh yeah, he likes the show and totally, he'll do it. Boy, that's a bucket list moment, man, of Sam Jackson reading your dialogue.
Talk about thrilling. Samuel L. Jackson does have an iconic and distinguishable voice, and as soon as Xander started mouthing off to The Deep, it was clear who was the man behind the shark. While they were always going to shoot their shot, Eric Kripke and company lucked out that the Oscar-winning actor was a fan of The Boys, and was happy to get in on the fun. And just like that, Xander was born.
While this was a funny gag and a relatively quick cameo, the scene in question showed just how low Crawford's character is. Not only does The Seven no longer exist, but his blind loyalty to Homelander has resulted in the entire ocean turning against him. That means he can't use his powers, and has lost all his friends who live in the water. What exactly does he have to live for anymore?
Perhaps this is setting up The Deep to finally unite with The Boys against Homelander in the forthcoming series finale. The aquatic supe has been pretty unredeemable throughout the show's five seasons on the air, mostly out of fear of his boss. But now that he's been pushed out of both Vought and the water, it might be a good time for him to finally get on the right side of history. We'll just have to see what happens in the show's final episode.
The Boys airs new episodes Wednesdays on Amazon Prime as part of the 2026 TV schedule.
