The Boys' 2027 Spinoff Is Hurting Its Final Season

12 hours ago 15

Jesnen Ackles posted up near a tree as Soldier Boy in The Boys

Published May 8, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT

Lewis is a Lead Writer for Screen Rant and has written for the site since 2022. This has allowed Lewis to explore a vast array of films, TV shows, books, comic books, and games from across the mainstream world of pop culture, reflecting his lifelong love of all media and typifying his experience in the world of fiction storytelling. To top this off, Lewis graduated from Northumbria University with First Class Honours in Film & TV Studies, truly exemplifying his experience in the medium.

The Boys will have another spin-off released in 2027, though one that is actively hurting its final season. The Boys' first spin-offs, Gen V and Diabolical, were, overall, well-received. Both expanded the universe in interesting ways and, aside from a few minor connections to Gen V, The Boys' story was relatively unaffected. With the story of 2027's Vought Rising, however, this is changing.

Vought Rising will be a prequel to Prime Video's superhero show, focusing on the foundations of Vought as a global superpower in and of itself. The Boys season 5 features many retro Supes, including Soldier Boy and Bombsight, who will have leading roles in Vought Rising, and who are proving to be integral to the former show's conclusion. A big plot point of The Boys' final series is V-One, the original strain of Compound V that makes Supes immortal.

Homelander has been searching for V-One since The Boys season 5, episode 2, with the titular group trying to reach it first to stop him from becoming all but impossible to defeat. As of The Boys season 5, episode 6's ending, Homelander has what he desired, making the characters and plot points from Vought Rising more integral than anyone thought in The Boys' final season. Although I, for one, have enjoyed this story more than many, judging by online chatter, there is certainly a case to be made that Vought Rising's set-up is damaging to The Boys' swan song.

Yes, there has been some solid development of The Boys' central characters, but there is no denying that there could have been a lot more. Especially after The Boys season 4's ending, in which Butcher seemingly turned full villain and the group was left scattered, more conflict, resolution, and exploration of emotional connections were admittedly expected in season 5. Again, these elements have not been entirely absent from The Boys season 5, but without Vought Rising's obvious setup, it could have been much more impactful.

How The Boys Season 5's Ending Could Have Balanced Vought Rising's Set-Up

Aya Cash as Stormfront holding a phone in The Boys.

This is not to say that The Boys should not have set up Vought Rising at all, but it could have found a better balance, especially in its final season. Soldier Boy's inclusion in the final season and the references to V-One alone would have been enough. The Boys season 5, episode 2 first mentioned V-One and the five Supes that possess it: Soldier Boy, Bombsight, Torpedo, Private Angel, and Stormfront.

This is enough of a reference to pique interest in Vought Rising; Bombsight's extended role and his feud with Soldier Boy were not necessary. The only part of Vought Rising's setup that actually works for The Boys season 5's plot is Soldier Boy's history with Stormfront/Clara. Their relationship was the entire reason why Soldier Boy ended up giving Homelander the V-One. As such, the elements with Bombsight could have been removed in favor of more development for Soldier Boy and Clara.

After all, Clara was a character introduced in The Boys first, as was Soldier Boy, making it less egregious to include their relationship as a major plot point of the show's final season than the unknowns of Vought Rising. Beyond that, another character more closely tied to the main show could easily have been used to make The Boys' V-One story work.

For instance, a character like Queen Maeve could have been brought back to give her an integral say in Homelander's "defeat." If Maeve had been revealed as someone who was researching V-One, found it, but lost it to Homelander, it would have given her a significant role that would have pleased fans of The Boys and developed the key, former relationship between her and Homelander.

This is just one possibility, but there are many other characters The Boys could have used to flesh out its V-One subplot over Vought Rising's characters. If it had done so, the Prime Video show would have developed its core cast better to make their eventual ending more impactful, as opposed to potentially dampening this impact by including what is a very obvious setup for its 2027 prequel.