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The Boys: Kripke on Season 5; Homelander Being "Literally All Trauma"

The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke on what it's like writing for the final season and Homelander being "literally all trauma" at this point.

As the cameras continue to roll on the fifth and final season, you can expect Showrunner Eric Kripke to be particularly guarded when it comes to giving away too much intel on what's to come with The Boys. But during a recent FYC event that also featured Antony Starr (Homelander), Laz Alonso (Mother's Milk), and Jessie T. Usher (A-Train), Kripke offered some insights into what it's like writing the final chapters as opposed to the previous seasons and what mindset we can expect to find Starr's Homelander in when the series returns. 

"It's really fun when it's the end," Kripke shared during the panel discussion, speaking from the perspective of where the writers can take things during the fifth season. "It's hard and it hasn't hit me yet about the emotion of it. But just from a story point of, you don't have to keep storylines going into a season beyond that really lets you blow the doors off it in a really exciting way." In terms of the leader of The Seven, you would think that Homelander would be riding pretty hide heading into Season 5: his enemies are either dead, imprisoned, or on the run – and he's about to be reunited with his "dad," Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). Actually, far from it.

"He's literally all trauma. I think what he plays so beautifully about it is he wants to be a god, but he's a man. And it's kind of slowly, or maybe not so slowly, driving him insane," Kripke shared about what the revelations of the past three seasons – and especially last season – have done to Homelander's already damaged psyche. "So dealing with things like aging, dealing with insecurity, dealing with a need for love — all very normal human things, these are all things he finds detestable. He needs them, but he's revolted by them all at once," Kripke adds.

Here's a look back at Kripke's Instagram post announcing the first day of filming was underway and revealing intel on the first episode of the final season: Episode 501: "Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite" (written by Paul Grellong and directed by Phil Sgriccia).

The Boys Is "Punk Rock": Eric Kripke "Working Hard to Not Sell Out"

"We're gonna look at the chips we have on the table right now. I live in absolute terror of becoming the thing we've been satirizing for five years," Kripke shared during a recent conversation with Collider, explaining why he continues to be cautious about expanding the show's universe too much, too soon. "The thing about 'The Boys' is that it's punk rock, and it hurts extra hard when punk rockers sell out. I'm really working hard to not sell out. We do these shows because we really care about them and we're passionate about them, and they can tell fresh stories that we can't tell in 'The Boys' and not just be about rapid expansion but be very careful and mindful about the choices we're making and being able to defend why we're making them. I worry about that every single day," he added. "I just want people to say, maybe it's for them, and maybe it isn't for them, but gotta hand it to them, they maintain a consistent level of quality."

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