Image via Prime Video
Published May 13, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT
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Editor's note: The following interview contains major spoilers for The Boys Season 5, Episode 7.
Summary
- In the final season of 'The Boys,' Homelander's God status fuels brutal losses, as beloved characters die and the looming ending grows darker.
- The 'Gen V' kids won't have a neatly wrapped up story, as it was meant to continue elsewhere.
- After Frenchie's sacrifice delivers a gut punch in Episode 7, the season finale mixes big fights with real emotion.
The Boys has almost hit the end of its five-season run, with just one episode left in the Prime Video series. Homelander (Antony Starr) is too busy relishing his new Godly status to care about anything or anyone else, unless they cross him. The fallen are starting to pile up, with A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), Firecracker (Valorie Curry), Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) already having been sacrificed, and who knows how many more are still to go. The Boys and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) are trying not to lose hope while Gen V’s Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) and Jordan Li (London Thor) are trying to stay in the fight and Sage (Susan Heyward) is on the very slippery edge of a cliff with her changing loyalty. And while there are big fights still to come, it will also have heart and hope in its own twisted, blood-soaked way.
Collider recently got the opportunity to chat one-on-one with show creator Eric Kripke about Episode 7, entitled “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk,” and tease what’s to come in the series finale. During the interview, he discussed whether he would have done anything differently with the Gen V characters if he’d known about that cancellation, how much he enjoys throwing in Hollywood and pop culture references, how that Impala reference found its way into the episode, what finally pushed Homelander over the edge with Soldier Boy, the gut punch of losing Frenchie, getting Samuel L. Jackson for a voice cameo, and what fans should expect from the final episode.
The ‘Gen V’ Characters Won’t Have Their Storyline Wrapped Up in a Bow as It Was Meant To Continue in the Now Cancelled Series
"Maybe there would have been a way through dialogue or something to hint at something with a little more finality."
Image via Prime VideoCollider: You’ve said that the Gen V cancellation wasn’t something you wanted and that you hope to find somewhere else to continue the story of those characters. I don’t know if we’ll see any of those characters in the series finale of The Boys because I haven’t seen yet, but if you had known that Gen V was getting canceled, would you have wanted to incorporate those characters into The Boys any more than you did or would that just not have been possible?
ERIC KRIPKE: I think the level with which they’re in the story, and they do show up in the finale, is probably right. This is The Boys finale, and they deserve to have their story told. But maybe there would have been a way through dialogue or something to hint at something with a little more finality. To prepare everyone, we leave the Gen V kids heading off into more story. They are not, “Now, we’re done.” They are on their way. Even in Episode 7, we’re hinting at some really interesting notions of issues and problems that Marie still has to deal with because we were hoping we could continue that story.
I used to be a network television, and a lot of times, you would be canceled in between seasons and just be done. Over the years, people would always say, “Are you sure you want to do a big cliffhanger, knowing that you might not even come back?” And my attitude is the same now as it was then, which is “You bet on success.” You don’t get into this business if you’re not a gambler. You never know what’s going to work or not. So bet for success, and if it doesn’t go your way, then find another way to do it.
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There are some great lines of dialogue in this episode, one of my favorites being, “Hitler on the outside, Fosse on the inside.” Who came up with the line, “The Taylor Sheridan AI wrote the thing, and it does not take notes”? When you throw in something that specific, do you ever worry that it’s too specific, or are lines like that mostly meant for just the people who will get it?
KRIPKE: No, there’s no such thing as too specific. [Anslem Richardson], who wrote the episode, wrote the line. My sense of humor, especially when it comes to the Hollywood stuff, is that there’s no such thing as too inside. I’m really proud of how, on top of everything else the show does, it’s also one of the most inside baseball Hollywood shows. The Studio does it too, and they do it better, but when we can do it, we like to go all the way in. Slem, by the way, is the same person who pitched that Soldier Boy had an affair with Shari Lewis, so if I’m putting Shari Lewis in the show and I’m approving that, I definitely do not have a problem with pitching Taylor Sheridan, who is a very well-known entertainment figure right now.
That Final ‘Supernatural’ Reference Got Added Into Episode 7 of ‘The Boys’ in Post-Production
"We wanted to put in one last reference."
Image via Prime VideoThere’s a moment in the episode when Jensen Ackles says, “This was never going to be a playing catch on the front lawn, fixing up the old Impala bullshit.” Did you intentionally work in that Impala reference?
KRIPKE: Yes, of course. Of course, we did. Knowing that that was going to be Jensen’s last scene in the series, we wanted to put in one last reference. Honestly, Slem wrote and we shot that it was a Ford. It was, “Working on the old Ford.” The danger of having (director) Phil Sgriccia and I, sitting next to each other in editing, which we would do, was that we were watching it and Phil was like, “Should it be 'Impala'?” And I was like, “Yeah, it probably should be 'Impala.'” And so, Jensen looped in 'Impala' just to do one last nod.
We get to hear about the plans for a Homelander theme park, called Homeland, that also includes a Soldier Boy Land, and we hear about rides and a parade, and get to see a model and concept art. Was that something you wanted to work in for the final season?
KRIPKE: Yeah. It’s an extension of how Planet Vought is becoming Planet Homelander. And then, Vought Land is becoming Homeland. It’s funny to me that one of the televangelists had a theme park. They made fun of it in Righteous Gemstones. The idea that there’s a religion-themed theme park that’s all based entirely around Homelander was very funny to us and speaks to the heights with which his narcissism is growing.
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You talked about Soldier Boy’s last scene. Why did Homelander snap at that particular moment when there were so many other possible moments that could have pushed him over the edge before then?
KRIPKE: He just couldn’t let his dad leave again or be without his father again because the last time, it wasn’t Soldier Boy’s fault that he left. So much of Homelander’s issues are wrapped up in daddy issues and issues with Ryan. His son abandoned him, and I just don’t think he could handle being abandoned by his father.
So, he just wanted to permanently take care of it himself?
KRIPKE: Well, yeah. Now, Soldier Boy is there forever. His father will always be there, sleeping and won’t talk back. That’s a big win for Homelander.
Why Was Frenchie’s Last Line in ‘The Boys’ So Important To Show Creator Eric Kripke?
"You want it to matter if you're going to do it."
Image via Prime VideoThere was something particularly tragic about Frenchie’s death. He took the time to save Kimiko and Sage, and he was still alive to say goodbye. Were there a lot of conversations about how to handle that moment? Does that one feel more painful, especially with him being one of the few characters that actually had someone that really, genuinely loved him?
KRIPKE: This is just filmmaking and writing, but if you’re going to take out a member of The Boys, you want it to feel as painful as possible. You don’t want to handle it lightly. You want to try to rip the audience’s heart out. You want it to matter if you’re going to do it. So, there were a lot of conversations. We knew that he would sacrifice himself for Kimiko, the woman he loved. We knew that they would get an opportunity to say goodbye to each other. As painful as that is, they are able to say goodbye and have one last kiss. It was weirdly important to me that his last line in the show be the last line from the comic, which is basically French for, “I love you, from the first.” I think that is a really lovely sentiment, that from when he first saw her in Season 1, Episode 4, he was just in love with her, and he was able to get that across. And, boy, Karen [Fukuhara] just really breaks your heart. Karen really made that scene work, I’ve seen that scene north of 100 times, and it still gets me every time.
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How did Samuel L Jackson come to voice Xander? Was he the one and only choice?
KRIPKE: Yeah. You need someone with the world’s most recognizable voice, and he has it. Honestly, we were inspired by the fact that we got Tilda Swinton as Ambrosius. We were like, “Wouldn’t it be funny if every time we voice a sea animal, it’s the biggest possible star, or the classiest actor we can find?” We just reached out to his reps. We just said, “Hey, would Sam be interested in doing this? It would be about an hour in the recording booth, if that.” If I remember correctly, the rep’s response was, “We’ll ask him, but probably not.” And then, they came back and said, “He’ll do it. He’s a fan of the show, and he’s happy to do it.” He recorded in New York. I was in L.A., but we were able to teleconference. Talk about a bucket list great day of your life when you have Sam Jackson in a recording booth, recording your dialogue in the most Sam Jackson way possible. The brilliant, angry way he’s telling off The Deep is so good. It was a dream come true, pinch yourself moment, for sure.
‘The Boys’ Series Finale Will Mix Big Fights With Real Emotion in a Very Honest Way
"The show has always had a lot of heart and hope."
What can you say to tease what we’ll be most surprised by when it comes to the finale? I feel like there will probably be some things that we expect, but also some things that we probably didn’t expect.
KRIPKE: I hope people will be surprised by the emotion that’s in it. People don’t always seem to feel this way, but to me, the show has always had a lot of heart and hope. In its own Boysian way and in a very honest way, I think that really rings true in the finale. There are big fights and big confrontations and big climaxes, but we really tried to focus on the emotion.
The Boys is available to stream on Prime Video.
Release Date 2019 - 2026-00-00
Showrunner Eric Kripke
Writers Eric Kripke
Franchise(s) The Boys
English (US) ·