The Boys season 5 release date speculation, cast, plot, and more news

The Boys season 5 is officially happening, though it's set to be the final mainline series of the Prime Video superhero series.

In the past five years, The Boys has easily established itself as one of the best TV shows out right now. From Homelander's internet-breaking obsession with milk to Butcher's foul-mouthed tirades, there's been plenty for fans to enjoy as we enter the show's endgame. The Boys season 4 also set up several intriguing plot threads that we can't wait to see resolved in the final season.

In our guide to The Boys season 5, we've got the latest news, including an update on the release window from one of its main cast members, exclusive quotes, and more.

The Boys season 5 release date speculation

Currently, we don’t know when The Boys season 5 release date will be announced. However, based on past season patterns, we expect the series to return sometime in 2026.

According to a report from Variety, scripts for The Boys season 5 are currently being written, and filming for the eight-episode season is planning to kick off this November and run through to the middle of 2025. 

With that in mind, we are looking at a summer 2026 release at the earliest. That's backed up, too, by Butcher actor Karl Urban saying in a recent social media post that he'll see viewers in "two years." 2026 it is, then.

It’s a long way off, but hey, one of the best shows on Amazon Prime deserves our patience, right? Stay tuned for more updates! 

 Is The Boys Season 5 the final season?

Yes, The Boys season 5 will be the final installment of the beloved superhero show. Unfortunately, this decision is unlikely to change since The Boys' team has been clear on the series' due date for years now. 

During an interview with TV Line, showrunner Eric Kripke explained how they had decided that Season 5 would be the last entry all the way back when they were working on The Boys season 3. 

Kripke went on to share this season 5 news with his followers on X, posting a screenshot of the final page of The Boys season 4 episode 8’s script. "Season 4 Premiere Week is a good time to announce: Season 5 will be the Final Season!" His caption read. "Always my plan; I just had to be cagey till I got the final OK from Vought."

The good news is that even if The Boys is over next season, The Boys universe is still thriving. In fact, Gen V season 2 has already supposedly started filming. On top of that, a new The Boys spin-off (titled Vought Rising) set during the '50s was announced at SDCC 2024. So don’t worry; there's still plenty for us to enjoy! 

 The Boys season 5 cast

We are still waiting for The Boys season 5 cast to be confirmed. However, after the events of the last episode of season 4 (read our The Boys season 4 episode 8 recap for more juicy details), we have some strong guesses on who will be returning to the series. Warning: spoilers ahead! 

In our The Boys season 4 ending explained guide, we broke down how Claudia Domit's character, Victoria Neuman, won’t be making a comeback since she died for good. We also know that Jeffrey Dean Morgan won’t be returning as Joe Kessler. Joe died off-screen during the 'Dirty Business' episode, and we are pretty sure there won’t be any surprise resurrections for him either.

However, Jensen Ackles is returning as Soldier Boy in The Boys season 5. This big reveal came during SDCC 2024, and it seems like this comeback will show us more about his relationship and feelings toward his son, Homelander. Hopefully, their upcoming father-son talk will be a tad less destructive than their last one back in season 3, right? Eric Kripke confirmed that Ackles' return is all about digging deeper into that dynamic.

He told us at SDCC: "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."

Read the full expected The Boys season 5 cast list below: 

• Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell
• Karl Urban as Billy Butcher
• Erin Moriarty as Starlight/Annie
• Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk
• Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko
• Tomer Capone as Frenchie
• Antony Starr as Homelander
• Chace Crawford as The Deep
• Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett
• Cameron Crovetti as Ryan
• Jim Beaver as Robert Singer
• Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy
• Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir
• Valorie Curry as Firecracker
• Rosemarie DeWitt as Daphne Campbell
• Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve
• Susan Heyward as Sister Sage  

The Boys season 5 plot

While we don’t have an official plot synopsis for The Boys season 5 just yet, the season 4 finale gave us lots of clues about the series' direction. During the final episode, we saw Butcher go a bit off the rails, killing multiple people and running off with the Supe-killing virus.

So, needless to say, we expect Butcher to be leading the charge as the villain of season 5 as he stops at nothing to make sure Homelander dies by his hand. Speaking of Homelander, we also know that Sage has some plan for the blonde Supe, as she's moving onto ‘Phase Two’ of her scheme that originally got Homelander close to the president. She already played a hand in getting Martial Law declared, so we're curious to see what her true end goal is in the upcoming season. 

If all of that wasn’t enough already, The Boys season 5 will have to address the whereabouts of Homelander’s son Ryan as well s A-Train. There is also the seemingly pesky case of brainwashing that befell Frenchie in the last episode of The Boys season 4 that needs some clarification. Oh yeah, and did we mention that The Boys season 4 post-credit scene also revealed that Soldier Boy had been cryogenically frozen? We know he's going to be unfrozen, but the implications of that fact are still a mystery. 

Speaking to GamesRadar+ at SDCC, creator Eric Kripke also confirmed there was "no guarantee" that any of the returning cast would survive the final season.

"There’s no guarantee who’s going to survive because you don’t have to keep [the cast] for another season," Kripke said. "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."

Basically, the final entry has a lot to get through and a lot at stake. And honestly, it seems like we'll have to rely on spin-offs to help answer some of our questions. During an interview with Variety, Kripke confirmed that Gen V season 2 will take place directly after The Boys season 4, so we should have a clearer view of what plot points will be addressed in season 5 after the spin-off airs. 

We expect that there will be crossovers and some of the above issues addressed in Gen V as well since it doesn’t seem likely that season 5 can tackle everything in just eight episodes. This basically means that we will have to watch Gen V season 2 ahead of The Boys season 5 to get the complete picture. So, you better start renewing those Amazon Prime subscriptions, folks!

While we wait for more The Boys season 5 news, check out our list of all the upcoming TV shows heading our way. If you want more heroes, check out our guide on how to watch all the Marvel movies in order.