The Boys Season 5: Who Plays Ryan This Season?

The Boys season 5 will be here before we know it, and the recent trailer shows that just about everyone is coming back, including Ryan, Homelander (Antony Starr) and Becca's (Shantel VanSanten) son. Ryan has quietly been one of the most important parts of The Boys since his introduction in the season 1 finale.

Ryan has gone from an innocent pawn in Vought and Butcher's (Karl Urban) war, to a tween figuring out his own power, to a young man deciding if he will side with his biological father or his surrogate one. Ryan briefly appears in The Boys season 5 trailer, looking much older than he did last season.

Ryan Is Still Played By Cameron Crovetti In The Boys Season 5

Though Ryan certainly looks older, it's the same actor from the previous three seasons. Cameron Crovetti reprises his role as Ryan, and the boy has aged into a young man in the two years since we last saw him. I wouldn't blame you if you thought he was played by a completely different actor.

It wouldn't be the first time the Ryan actor would have changed, after all. In his first appearance in season 1, episode 8, "You Found Me", it's revealed that Becca has been alive this whole time, raising Ryan. This Ryan is played by Parker Corno, who was replaced by Crovetti the next season.

There's actually a secret third actor who has played Ryan, Cameron's twin brother, Nicholas. Nicholas and Cameron have appeared together previously as Josh and Max Wright in Big Little Lies, but Nicholas' part in The Boys is much smaller, standing in for Cameron during a stunt (via HollywoodLife).

In season 2, episode 3, "Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men", Homelander shoves his son off the roof in a bizarre kind of teaching moment. Cameron was filming another scene at the time, so Nicholas volunteered to stand in so that production could get a CGI copy of the stunt to layer Cameron over.

Ryan Will Be A Vital Character In The Boys Season 5

Since his introduction, Ryan has represented the two halves of The Boys as the son of Homelander and the surrogate son of Butcher. He has good reason to distrust both men, and every season, it feels more and more like the side that Ryan chooses will be one of the biggest moments of the show.

He has Homelander's power and rigid understanding that he can do good if allowed to be in charge, but he doesn't have Homelander's traumatic upbringing or life abused by Vought. He also has Butcher's humanity, but doesn't have Butcher's rage and desperate need for vengeance.

It's clear he could fall to either side, though, and whichever one he chooses could ultimately decide how The Boys ends. The trailer shows Ryan just as Homelander says the word "backstabbers", suggesting he will side with Butcher, but just about anything could happen in the final season of The Boys.