THE BOYS
- Prime Video
After five seasons of death, depravity and digs at the capitalistic superhero-industrial complex, The Boys is done.
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Except not quite.
Series creator and producer Eric Kripke says the show's final season - in which superpowered villain Homelander essentially takes control of the United States - was based on history but developed "unsettling" parallels to current events.
The series, which premiered in 2019, is adapted from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's comic books, which ran from 2006-2012.
"We were looking at what happens in countries that have authoritarian creep, like what happens in Eastern Europe or South America or Germany," Kripke said, pointing to leaders building statues of themselves, asserting they're ruling by divine right and building internment camps.
"And the fact that all of these things happened before we even aired, we genuinely thought we were doing something a little out there. And it ended up sort of becoming reality in a way that's not great for reality.
"If there's any silver lining to get out of this dumpster fire, it's that especially young people might see a golden statue of Trump and say, 'Oh wait, I saw something like that on The Boys and it was so ridiculous that this is completely ridiculous'.
"I think there's real value in that kind of satire of just pointing out how silly it all is."
Starr's highwire act
What about the big man himself, Antony Starr, who plays the seemingly all-powerful but curiously stunted Homelander?
The actor says he made a discovery about himself on Gen V, the college-set spin-off from The Boys that was recently canceled after two seasons.
"It was on Gen V when he (Kripke) put me up in the air, 80 feet or whatever it was. And I found out that I'm actually terrified of heights. Swore like a truck driver," Starr recalled.
Starr's Homelander - a far cry from the brown-haired New Zealander with his blond hair, American flag-themed suit and perpetually twitching (laser-enabled) eyes - delivered a bounty of memes, something that Starr encouraged Kripke to incorporate into the show.
"Ant had this idea of, like, 'Let's have memes be the real thing that get to me.' He pitched it. I was like, 'That's hilarious,'" Kripke said.
"The real problem is memes," Starr said.
Spawn of The Boys
Despite the short run for Gen V, there's more in store for fans of the MA-rated - and sometimes R-rated - The Boys.
Vought Cinematic Universe spin-offs on the horizon for Amazon's Prime Video include Vought Rising and The Boys: Mexico.
Vought Rising is due out in 2027 and traces the origins of the titular corporation's "supe" program, bringing back fan favorite Soldier Boy - played by Jensen Ackles (who starred in Kripke's previous show Supernatural).
Praising The Boys cast and crew for building a remarkable fanbase, Ackles has said: "I'm hoping that we can just capitalise on that as much as we can and that they will go with us on this new journey".
