Amazon Prime Video's hit superhero satire series The Boys will soon end with Season 5, and there are already a few indicators of how things will wrap up.
Season 4 of The Boys followed a slowly dying Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and his ragtag group as they attempted to save Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) from the tyrannical grip of his father, Homelander (Antony Starr).
Naturally, things didn't exactly go to plan, and the season finale saw Butcher succumb to his dark side by killing Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) with his new powers, which resulted in a new President being elected and swearing his allegiance to Homelander.
This sets the stage for a truly sinister fifth and final season.
The Boys Season 5: Confirmed Details So Far
The Boys Season 5 Won't Release Until 2026
Most viewers will have a burning question: when exactly will The Boys Season 5 be released?
Season 4 only recently wrapped up in July 2024, which means Season 5 is still a couple of years off.
Karl Urban confirmed this in an Instagram post celebrating the Season 4 finale, saying, "that's all The Boys for now folks. See you in... 2 years (wish it was sooner.)"
Showrunner Eric Kripke confirmed to Variety that the fifth season of The Boys was still in the writing stage as of July 2024, with filming expected to begin in November 2024 and end in mid-2025. Kripke also confirmed that the final season "will be eight episodes."
This follows a precedent set with Seasons 3 and 4 of The Boys, which saw a two-year gap between each season's premiere dates.
Soldier Boy Is Returning
After being in the middle of the action for much of Season 3 of The Boys, Jensen Ackles' superhero, Soldier Boy, was put back on ice - shortly after it was revealed he was Homelander's biological father.
That prison won't hold the superhero for long, as the Season 4 finale revealed that Homelander now knows the location of his frozen father.
At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2024, it was confirmed that Ackles would be back for Season 5 of The Boys as a series regular once again, so expect Soldier Boy to have a large part in the final season.
Kripke told GamesRadar during SDCC that the decision to bring Soldier Boy back was based on a decision to explore the "father-son relationship" between the two most powerful Supes:
"You know, what we realized was we really hadn't explored the father-son relationship much between Homelander and Soldier Boy. There's a lot of material there, how soldier boy feels about Homelander, how Homelander feels about his dad, and so we really wanted to dig into that relationship."
As for how Soldier Boy will play into Season 5, Kripke said the Supe would be out for blood after Billy Butcher turned against him in the Season 3 finale:
"Soldier Boy is really driven to kill Butcher after Butcher betrayed him in season 3."
A-Train's Disappearance Is Being Covered Up
The Boys' Season 4 finale was a turning point for many characters, including a long-standing member of The Seven, A-Train (Jesse T. Usher).
The speedster superhero was revealed to be the leak in Homelander's operation, which led to him fleeing the country with his family to avoid his leader's wrath.
This has left A-Train's future in Season 5 of The Boys uncertain, but it's been revealed that the character's disappearance will be addressed.
A social media post from Vought International, which is an in-universe account for The Boys, revealed in the style of a Breaking News segment that the company is disguising A-Train's disappearance as a "top secret undercover mission:"
“Today, Vought can confirm that A-Train is being deployed overseas effective immediately. We have to keep all details confidential, both for his safety and the safety of the free world. Let's wish him good luck and especially, God speed!"
While this explains A-Train's disappearance in-world, it remains unclear whether the character will return for the final fight against Homelander or take his chance to escape, similar to Queen Maeve.
Season 5 Will Be the Show's 'Apocalypse'
As things move into the final season, Eric Kripke confirmed that the Season 4 finale is about as bad as things can get for Butcher and the boys.
The showrunner explained to LADbible that Season 5 was the right number to end with because "there's no way a show goes one more season after the events of that finale."
The creator added it was The Boys' version of "the apocalypse" because Homelander essentially "gets everything he wanted":
“As far as we're concerned, it's our show's version of the apocalypse.”
“Homelander gets everything he has wanted from the beginning, which is to completely remake the United States in his image, and according to his whims."
“The boys are at their lowest point, most of them are captured, and we worry for their future."
With the villains on top and all the heroes facing their darkest days, Kripke teased that Season 5 would require them to "really come together" to "save the world."
[ The Boys Season 5 Gets Exciting Story Update from Star (Exclusive) ]
Anyone Could Die in The Boys' Final Season
Season 5 is The Boys' last one, giving the series license to go bigger and bolder than ever.
According to Kripke, that means anyone could die. The executive producer told GamesRadar that "there's no guarantee who's going to survive:"
"There’s no guarantee who’s going to survive because you don’t have to keep [the cast] for another season. So you can have really shocking, big things happen all the time. The writers, as we’re starting to cook it up, we’re really enjoying that."
Throughout its four-season run, The Boys has proven it's never safe to get attached to characters, but it seems the final season will up the ante even further for the entire ensemble.
The Boys Seasons 1-4 are streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
