If the final season of Prime Video‘s The Boys hadn’t been written before the 2024 election, you might think the new episodes were a bit too on the nose.
There are federal troops being sent into American cities, undesirables being rounded up and sent to “freedom camps,” White House press briefings that devolve into jeering gaslighting sessions. And leading the country is a megalomaniac — Anthony Starr’s always riveting Homelander — who might be going insane.
The acclaimed gross-out superhero show launches its fifth season on Wednesday with eight episodes that dive right into the drama’s final arc as a group of anti-supe crusaders (led by Karl Urban’s Butcher and Erin Moriarty’s Starlight) try to find a way to stop Homelander and his gang (including Chace Crawford’s The Deep, who’s now a podcast bro advocating incel tropes) from ruining the country. While the show has always been a multi-pronged satire of Hollywood and social media, this season’s political storylines will surely hit a bit different (see trailer below).
One wild-seeming storyline involves a character insisting on being compared to Jesus and, minutes after our chat with The Boys creator Eric Kripke, White House Faith Office senior adviser Pastor Paula White went viral for gushingly comparing Trump to Jesus at an Easter event. Kripke swears none of this was intentional and, if anything, seems rather bummed about it. Here is our spoiler-free chat about the new episodes.
The Boys has leaned into its political and authoritarian satire elements probably the most this season. Not in some forced way but a logical way — based on where the show started and how it progressed. But what’s it been like for you guys watching the headlines leading up to the premiere, particularly since the show wrapped nearly a year ago? Even just the fact that the word “Homeland,” due to DHS and ICE, has become such a political villain right before your final season.
It’s not a great feeling. It’s a sinking feeling. It’s never great when the world out-crazies your superhero show with exploding penises. The stuff that has come to pass since we wrote it — including internment camps, sending federal troops into cities … even tiny references like that clown in charge of the military.[In the show we have a character named] General Mayhem. When you think of the clown currently in charge, the fucking Secretary of… ?
Secretary of War.
Secretary of War! Because he needs to be extra macho [with his title changing from Secretary of Defense]. When we were writing [the season] — and I swear I’m not making this up — we genuinely thought it was a little out there, that this is the furthest we were venturing into full-on sci-fi — or at least speculative fiction. And so much of it has come to pass already. It’s really upsetting. I don’t know what else to say about it.
Without giving away any spoilers, there’s an episode midway through the season where I did wonder: Do y’all ever think you might be too cynical about America?
It’s interesting you say that. We’re very aware people think the show can be cynical or dystopic. We really try — because we are hopeful people, as a group of writers — we really tried to make hope one of the main thematics this season. Like [being in] the worst possible circumstances without giving up, without becoming cynical, without putting your head in the sand. And that’s really what the characters struggle with.
It was also really important to us — and it comes up again and again in the show — to really show that, our quarrel is not with people. You see characters like [spoiler omitted], who’s clearly a right winger. But he’s a good guy. And there’s characters like that this season. Because we’re trying to make the point that it’s the leaders who are just really problematic.
There are repeated jokes about AI replacing screenwriters this season. I particularly like the one about a Taylor Sheridan AI that refuses to take notes. But be honest: Do you guys use AI for anything?
I can confidently state the writers’ room is 100 percent AI free. But I’m not going to lie, I use it for synonyms all the time. It’s better than Google because you can explain the tone and the context of the type of word you’re looking for, and it’s way better at coming up with synonyms. But so far, that’s about it. That, and [making] stupid pictures of my friends.
As much as the show is a political satire, this season might have the most inside jokes about Hollywood that I’ve seen from it yet. Like, you managed to pretty much hit every major topic The Hollywood Reporter has covered in the last year.
I am so happy to hear you say that. We have this goal that — on top of everything else — we want to be the most accurate inside-Hollywood show. Obviously, [Apple TV’s] The Studio does it better. But just to get in so many of those inside jokes — and the more obscure the better. Like the Taylor Sheridan thing came out of my kids watching Landman. So I’m watching it like, “This is Landman? This is crazy.” Then we started talking about it and it became a [show within the show titled] American Eagle.
You’ve probably been asked this before, but do you ever have a moment in your writers’ room where somebody actually gets offended by an idea? Like where somebody just says something that’s just too far.
When you come to work on this show, you know what you’re signing on for. But I also have a really wide open door if there’s something that’s upsetting, to come to me and talk to me about it, and we’ll deal with it. It’s important to make the room feel like a safe space — the same way you want to make a set feel like it’s a safe space. So it’s safe to take risks and say things that might be insane. Or if you’re taking on the voice of a hateful character, you have to say something really hateful. But the writers generally love each other so much that I think it’s mostly been okay.
Finally, what most excites you about the final season of The Boys?
Excites is the wrong word. What makes me most … anxious about the final season is really hoping we land the plane. It’s super hard to do a finale. Fans will retroactively judge the show based on how they feel about the finale. If we stiff it, they will definitely say, “Well, that show wasn’t as good as we thought it was.” And it’s almost like you’re trying to secure your legacy with these finales. And it’s the first finale I’ve ever done, too — so it’s not like I have any experience with it. So I’m mostly anxious and girding my loins.”
Well, based on episodes one through seven, I think fans should be very pleased.
So I should keep my loins wide open.
