With less than a month to go until The Boys returns for its final season, one of the stars of the hit superhero series admitted that fans might have mixed emotions about the final run of episodes.
Prime Video debuted The Boys in 2019 and has already launched spinoffs The Boys Presents: Diabolical and Gen V (with others currently in development), but the original series is about to come to an end, which was confirmed in 2024.
Erin Moriarty, who plays Starlight on the show, told Collider that fans will likely have very strong but “mixed” reactions to the series finale, which will be released on May 20, going so far as to predict that “it’s going to be emotional.” Expanding upon that sentiment, the actress explained that the cast gives very “nuanced portrayals” of the characters, so fans have gotten “more emotionally invested in them than I had anticipated.”
This extends to someone like Homelander, who may be one of the “most evil characters on our show,” but because Antony Starr is “brilliant” on screen, it makes it easier to connect with the characters and the storylines, even when they make horrendous decisions.
Erin Moriarty: Oh, I just got chills. I think it’s going to be mixed. You think with The Boys it would just be like, “Holy f***,” but I think it’s going to be emotional.
I think it’s going to be emotional because the thing about the show that I really enjoy watching as an audience member — because so many of the scenes that I’m not in, I just watch as if I wasn’t in the show — is watching Antony [Starr] and Homelander. The way he plays that character is brilliant. I think what it’s going to show is that even the most evil characters on our show, who have been there from the beginning and are there throughout the season, because of the nuanced portrayals of these characters, what I realized is that there’s a little bit more emotionally invested in them than I had anticipated.
Moriarty went on to say that there will also be plenty of laughter and humor, but “no one is safe this season,” which means fans should expect a lot of shocking moments.
Moriarty: Kripke has warned that no one is safe this season, right? That’s not a secret. And I think as a result, it’s going to be far more emotional than anyone anticipates. There’s going to be a lot of shock, there’s going to be a lot of laughter, there’s humor. There’s everything that you would imagine, but the emotional gravity of it kind of caught me by surprise. It’s a show that makes you laugh and makes you gasp, but has it made people sob as much as it will in the final season? In my opinion, it’s going to be really emotional.
Aside from the emotional angle of The Boys season 5 being the final installment, Karen Fukuhara (Kimiko Miyashiro) believes that a common fan reaction to the ending will be, “What the f***?!“
During the same interview, Colby Minifie, who plays Ashley Barrett, said she believes fans will finish watching the “beautiful” Boys finale and go, “Oh, I want to see more!” Fortunately, there are multiple spinoffs in the works, aside from the possibility of another season of Gen V. “We have more of the world,” Minifie added, “which I think is so cool that we’ve expanded so much.” Moriarty echoed that sentiment and said it’s “surreal” that the franchise keeps growing.
Colby Minifie: I think people are going to be like, “Oh, I want to see more!” What’s great is that we’ve got these spinoffs. We have more of the world, which I think is so cool that we’ve expanded so much.
Moriarty: It’s surreal.
Minifie: People can still live in that world a bit. We’ve got Vought Rising starring Aya [Cash] and Jensen [Ackles]. They’re having a blast making that show, so that’s really exciting.
The Boys also stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Nathan Mitchell, Jensen Ackles, Cameron Crovetti, Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Over the past seven years, Supernatural creator Eric Kripke has adapted The Boys comic books for the small screen, with the series inverting the typical superhero story by featuring corrupt, power-hungry and scandalous superpowered individuals.
Released in 2024, The Boys season 4 ended with multiple deaths and the arrest of President-elect Singer, while Speaker of the House-turned-President Steven Calhoun aligned himself with Homelander and gave the superhuman unprecedented powers in the government.
The Boys may be on the verge of an emotional ending, but as the cast discussed, the franchise is not close to being done. Spinoff Vought Rising just wrapped filming on March 11, with the prequel taking viewers to the 1950s as Jensen Ackles and Aya Cash step back into character as Soldier Boy and Stormfront, respectively. A release date hasn’t been announced.
The Boys: Mexico is also in development with Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal.
The Boys season 5 premieres Wednesday, April 8 on Prime Video.
- Release Date
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2019 – 2026-00-00
- Showrunner
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Eric Kripke
- Writers
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Eric Kripke
- Franchise(s)
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The Boys