The Boys creator and showrunner Eric Kripke has warned fans not to expect big battle scenes in Season 5, simply because the Amazon Prime Video show doesn’t have a Game of Thrones-style budget.
Instead, the fifth and final season of the smash hit superhero series will have lots of “direct confrontations,” which Kripke hopes will be “cathartic and emotionally satisfying,” he told SFX, via GamesRadar.
Season 5, due to hit Prime Video next month, revolves around The Boys’ resistance to Homelander’s rule. They believe the ultra powerful supervillain is looking for V1, Vought’s first iteration of Compound V. If Homelander gets some, he’d become immortal. The Boys’ plan is to use a virus to wipe out every supe on the planet, taking Homelander down in the process.
“It’s just a totally transformed world,” Kripke said. “It’s Homelander’s world and, unfortunately, we’re all living in it. Starlight is mounting a desperate resistance, but The Boys are scattered. Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and Hughie have been captured. We talked a lot about the French Resistance and prison camp breaks. We were really working our way through that kind of season. I mean, there are not full battle scenes because we still don’t have Game of Thrones’ budget, but there are a lot of very direct confrontations; a lot of the people that you want to see smashing into each other smash into each other. I hope it’s cathartic and emotionally satisfying, but I’m a tiny bit terrified.”
Game of Thrones: “The Battle of the Bastards” Images
That mention of Game of Thrones is surely a nod to its most famous battle, the Battle of the Bastards. This battle, considered one of the best in cinematic history, features fantastical elements such as giants, dragons, White Walkers, and Wildfire, but it’s also packed full of grounded melee fighting that adds a stunning sense of realism.
But it did not come cheap. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Battle of the Bastards director Miguel Sapochnik revealed what it took to make the episode: “When all was said and done, we had around 500 extras, 160 tons of gravel, 70 horses and riders, 65 stuntmen and women, seven principle actors, often four camera crews, 25 days to shoot it and a call sheet with often up to 600 crew members.” The episode reportedly cost $12 million, higher than the Season 6 average.
Amazon, of course, has form when it comes to expensive Prime Video shows. Just look at The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, for example. Even the short-lived Wheel of Time TV series featured a big battle or two. The Boys, considered one of the most popular shows on Prime Video, apparently can’t quite compete.
The upshot of all this is we probably won’t see an Avengers-style teamup to take down the big bad that is Homelander. Perhaps more likely, we’ll get a dramatic showdown between the last main characters standing.
Speaking of which, Karl Urban, who plays Billy Butcher, has teased that character deaths will come thick and fast in Season 5 — and insisted “nobody is safe.”
Speaking to Variety, Urban told fans they should look forward to The Boys “coming to a big crescendo” when the fifth and final season hits Prime Video on April 8 with a two-episode launch. He wouldn’t point to any specific moment as jaw-dropping, no doubt to avoid spoilers, but did say there are plenty of shocking moments to come.
“Every season, but particularly this season, from episode one, you’re like, oh wow,” he said. “Nobody is safe. Fatalities right from the get-go. Let’s go! Last season! It’s all on!”
Shocking moments are The Boys’ trademark, so we can expect plenty of over-the-top, gore-filled scenes. But who might die? The main character fans are wondering about here is Homelander, who starts Season 5 ruling over the United States with an iron fist.
Here’s the official blurb on The Boys Season 5:
In the fifth and final season, it’s Homelander’s world, completely subject to his erratic, egomaniacal whims. Hughie, Mother’s Milk, and Frenchie are imprisoned in a “Freedom Camp.” Annie struggles to mount a resistance against the overwhelming Supe force. Kimiko is nowhere to be found. But when Butcher reappears, ready and willing to use a virus that will wipe all Supes off the map, he sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the world and everyone in it. It’s the climax, people. Big stuff’s gonna happen.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
