The Boys creator talks the show’s ending and how it will be "more emotionally satisfying" than the comics
The Boys creator Eric Kripke looks ahead to the show's ending, and the lessons learned from the comics
The Boys is ending with its fifth season – and creator Eric Kripke has already spoken about the Prime Video series’ ending, suggesting he wants to deviate from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s narrative choices.
"There’s some stuff in the comic that we couldn’t do even if we wanted to," Kripke said during an appearance on Showrunners Sitdown (via Variety).
"I think, look, there’s some shocking twists in the comic, but I would want them to be just a little more emotionally satisfying. And so the ending I have in mind is — certainly has elements that it’s inspired by that. But it’s not the ending from the comics."
While we’re loath to spoil The Boys comic outright, there’s plenty there that we can confidently say won’t be in the Prime Video series. Chief among them is Black Noir being the Big Bad and a Homelander clone, something that has seemingly been dismissed since season 4’s replacement Black Noir is an actor portraying the Supe. Several other characters’ fates have already been remixed or changed, meaning that endgame won’t come to pass for them either.
But there are other elements that could come into play. Namely, politics and Vought could be set to collide in a major way. In the comics, Homelander leads an army to storm the White House. That’s something that could prove to be inspirational as Neuman takes a big step towards The White House.
There could be tension, too, between how far Butcher wants to go to eliminate the Supe threat and whether The Boys will stop him. The source material – for our money – takes it a little too far and ends with a climactic showdown between Butcher and Hughie. We suspect Eric Kripke and his writing team – taking into account the "emotionally satisfying" line – will soften off the edges here for a payoff that is a little less cynical.
Still, that’s a story for another day. The Boys is continuing its penultimate season on Prime Video, with new episodes of the fourth season airing weekly on Thursdays on the streamer.
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I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.