Every time a new season of The Boys arrives, it does so with a valid question: how can it possibly top what came last time? With each successive season, Prime Video’s satirical superhero series – in which powered-up individuals exist, and are largely monstrous people – ups the ante on its shocking scenes, gratuitous gore, and pointed political storytelling. Now, Season 4 is imminent, following the wilder-than-ever Season 3 (with that Termite sequence, and the entire ‘Herogasm’ episode), and the debauched antics of YA spin-off Gen V – while Season 5 has already been confirmed to follow, promising more story to come in the war between Superman-alike psychopath Homelander (Antony Starr), and his human nemesis Billy Butcher (Karl Urban).
But fear not – good shows can’t last forever, and showrunner Eric Kripke has a proper ending in mind for The Boys, whenever that time arises. “You can’t build a show that’s about these two forces of Homelander and Butcher slowly closing in on each other without bringing that to a head,” he tells Empire in a major new interview about the show. “Whenever that last episode occurs, I know what happens.” The show remains one of Prime Video’s biggest success stories, spawning multiple spin-offs (including Gen V, animated series The Boys: Diabolical, with The Boys: Mexico coming up too) – turning it into a franchise-satire that itself has become a franchise. “I’m very aware of the ironic position this puts us in,” says Kripke. “I think about it every day, how important it is: even if we’re telling more stories in this world, that we don’t fucking sell out.”
Keeping it raw and pulling no punches is a surefire way to stay fresh – and Season 4 is ready to go hard on that front. “I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that it opens on election night,” Kripke says, teasing the most political season yet. “Victoria Neuman, a secret homicidal supe, is now the Vice President-elect.” The result is a season that could mirror the real-life upcoming US election. “In a couple months, she’s going to be confirmed and inaugurated — and then she’s a heartbeat away from the Presidency, in quite the Faustian bargain with Homelander,” the showrunner adds. “So that’s a really good ticking clock — and [it gives us the opportunity] to talk stolen elections and using social media to spew disinformation, and trials, and social unrest, and how people in power actually instigate social unrest because it’s a political benefit to them.” All that, plus chickens hopped up on V. Bring on the carnage.
Read Empire’s full The Boys feature – speaking to Eric Kripke about the show’s astonishing success, its wildest moments, and where it’s going next – in the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice issue, on sale Thursday 6 June. The Boys Season 4 begins streaming on Prime Video from 13 June.