Warning! This article contains major spoilers for The Boys season 4. If you've yet to catch up, turn back now!
Eric Kripke says The Boys season 5 will present "the show's version of the apocalypse".
After the explosive season 4 finale dropped on Prime Video, the show's creator broke down what that ending means for the titular anti-Supe gang, and teased what to expect from the next chapter.
"You know, I think the finale of season four really shows you that we've been planning five years all along, because there's no way a show goes one more season after the events of that finale," Kripke told LadBible. "As far as we're concerned, it's our show's version of the apocalypse."
If you've made it this far, we hope you're all too aware what said "events" are, but if you're masochistic when it comes to spoilers then... well, The Boys season 4 ended with Butcher (Karl Urban) taking V and using his newfound tentacles (?!) to rip Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) in half. Much to The Boys' dismay, too, given the fact that she'd just vowed to help Hughie (Jack Quaid) and co take down Homelander (Antony Starr)...
Using footage acquired from the (now-deceased) shape-shifting Supe in the underground bunker, Sage (Susan Heyward) had presidential candidate Robert Singer arrested for conspiring with The Boys to murder Neuman, causing Senator Calhoun to be sworn in. Calhoun, who had already aligned himself with Homelander following Neuman's rousing speech at Tek Knight's Federalist Society party, then declares martial law and deputizes Homelander and his army of Supes.
Later, The Boys go their separate ways, but things take an even darker turn when Frenchie and Kimiko are attacked by Gen V's Cate and Sam, MM is accosted by Love Sausage, Hughie and Annie run into Cindy, and Butcher drives off into the darkness with Joe Kessler's ghost in the back seat and a maniacal grin on his face.
"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," Kripke continued. "The Boys are at their lowest point; most of them are captured, and we worry for their future.
"I always look at it [like we're at] the end of the second act of a movie, where everyone's really at their low point, and they've all faced their own personal demons. Now, they need to really come together in the fifth season and save the world."
For more on The Boys, check out some of our more spoiler-heavy explainers below:
- Homelander's dark past, explained
- The Boys season 4 takes full advantage of Prime Video’s most overlooked feature, and the result is hilarious
- Do I need to watch Gen V before The Boys season 4?
- Who is the new Black Noir in The Boys season 4? His return from the dead explained
- Who is Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing in The Boys season 4?
- Our writer’s opinion piece - The Boys season 4 plays heavy on cameos, and I'm worried it's becoming what it set out to mock
- Is this surprise A-list appearance in The Boys season 4 the show's best cameo yet?
- Who is Tek Knight and how the billionaire Supe is way worse in the comics
- What's the virus in The Boys season 4?
- Who is Webweaver?
