This week, we're in for quite the treat on The Boys as Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) finally crosses paths with Mister Marathon (Jared Padalecki) and Malchemical (Misha Collins), setting up a Supernatural reunion for the ages. While we won't give away what happens, we did recently catch up with showrunner Eric Kripke to talk about what fans can expect when the Winchester boys reunite.
Plus, he talks to me about bringing this five-season story to a close, how they came up with every character's ending, some of the deaths we've seen and some of the deaths that are yet to come, and Homelander's true endgame.
The season five main cast features Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Colby Minifie, Cameron Crovetti, Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jensen Ackles, and Daveed Diggs.
The first four episodes of The Boys season five are now streaming!
Watch our full interview below and/or keep scrolling to read the full transcription. Plus, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: You’ve known for a while that Season 5 would be the end. How much of the finale we’re about to see is the same vision you had when you pitched the pilot, and how much has evolved based on the current political/social climate?
ERIC: We knew, I'd say about the middle of season three, we had a pretty solid idea of where everything was going to end up. But, you know, I've said this before, I think any showrunner who says they have like a detailed map from start to finish is lying to make themselves look cool. You know, you have notions and you have vague directions you want to go in, but it's a cocktail napkin map. So, heading into season five, the writers and I, you know, what I like to say is, we really knew the last ten pages of the last episode. We knew who lived and who died. How did they end up? Did they have a happy ending? Did they not have a happy ending? Like, you know that final montage that's always set to the slow part of Layla, like we knew that. And so then, the work of the season became sort of building to that, and how do we get there, which you want to leave wide open, especially a show as topical as this one, you need to give yourself a lot of room to maneuver, and if you overly broke it out too much, it becomes kind of hermetically sealed, because good ideas come all the time, you know, good ideas come while we're already shooting, you know, the world suddenly changes, especially this world lately, so you have to give yourself enough openness to sort of absorb that stuff as it comes along.
ROHAN: Based on the deaths we’ve seen and that are yet to come, there’s an ample amount of thought that’s gone into these endings. Some characters sacrifice themselves and others are killed without a second thought. What kind of conversations were you having on how each character would meet their end?
ERIC: Yeah, I mean, you know, some of them really richly deserve it. Some of them are sort of like the victims of the fate they made for themselves. A person like A-Train, you know, it was heartbreaking, but it was also really heroic, and for a guy who only pretended to be a hero, he really went out as one, and I thought that was really fitting. So, yeah, I think you know who they are as characters, you know, look, I think not all of the good guys are going to make it to the end. I think the audience feels in their bones that you can't have victory without sacrifice. It's just not how victory works, and it feels like a little too dishonest and clean if everybody makes it through scot free and then high fives at the end, that's just not how life works, and underneath the superheroes and the shocking craziness and everything, we actually do try to make a show that feels honest, and so I think sometimes terrible things happen and anyway, so it's about finding that balance as you move throughout the season.
ROHAN: After season four ended with half the squad locked up, when did you know you had to bring The Boys back together as soon as possible this season, because it's been really great seeing all of them working together again.
ERIC: They spent so much of season four separated and off on their own sort of solitary adventures, and they're great together. They're a blast to be together. They're fun to watch and it's the final season of The Boys, and so you want that notion, which is like the band is back together and on one final, insane mission, where the stakes are higher than ever, because the alternative is like two, three episodes of those guys in a prison camp, and I didn't want to watch that show, and when you only have eight bullets in your gun, you really have to be economical with how you're using them and how you're advancing the story every episode, because I have to move the story forward. I also have something like fifteen characters that I need to move, you know, their stories forward to get to where they need to be by the end of the season. So, it sort of, to me, was an it was a certainty that I had to get them all together, you know, as early as episode two.
ROHAN: I'm a huge Supernatural fan, so it was really great seeing Jared, Jensen, and Misha back together again, Can you tell me what went into setting this reunion up and finding the right characters for Jared and Misha? And, what was it like just having the three of them back on set with you?
ERIC: You know, I've wanted to get Jared and Misha on the show for some time. You know, Jared was filming his show Walker, and so the schedule never worked out, but I knew Walker was ending, and I knew he had a window that he could do this. So, in the beginning of the season, I just said to the writers, I said, you know, I want him for an episode, and I want him to play more than a cameo. I want him to be a real character that really moves the story forward and changes the story, so just keep your eye open for where that is. I didn't know heading into the season that, for sure, he was going to go play that character.
But then when it came along and we were breaking that episode, and we knew we wanted to go to Los Angeles and we wanted to meet that character, I forget who in the room said it, but someone's like, well, this is the perfect one for Jared. And I'm like, that is the perfect part for Jared. So, then I texted him and said, Hey, are you available on these dates, because we have this character that is really tied into the history of the show, which I really like. It sort of honors Jared in the right way, because it's a character that's been referenced since season one, and he was available. And then, we knew we had this other superhero Malchemical in it, so we have to give that to Misha. We could do Jared, Jensen and Misha, and they could all be together. That would be amazing. And luckily, Misha was available too. So, it was a blast. It was like going back home and hanging out with your high school friends in the best way. It was just so much fun.
ROHAN: Homelander has committed countless atrocities throughout the series, but he’s also been incredibly lucky, especially with how things have played out this season. However, it feels like he still doesn't know what he wants. How did you approach his storyline and bringing it to a satisfying end?
ERIC: Yeah, I mean this season, his main goal is to achieve Godhood, divinity, you know, like he's called himself a God since season one. Now, you know, it's logical that here at the end of things, his final, most psychotic break would be to actually become one, and he needs V1 to become one, so that's part of his goal, and then also, sort of, as he puts it, sort of preparing the public for his ascension, and that's really his goal. Really everything he does from Episode Three onward, in every scene, is him preparing for what he views as his divine right and destiny, and so, that's what he wants, and it's [frick]ing insane.
And he thinks that finally, that will be the thing that makes him happy. But nothing will make him happy. That's the point, like the more power he accrues, and, you know, several characters A-Train just being the first, but it'll come up several times in the season, says, you're nothing, man, you're nobody. And the more power he accrues, the more unhappy he is, because it still isn't fulfilling, because maybe all of those people are right, and deep down, I think he knows it.
Check out more of our The Boys season five interviews:
The Boys Season 5 will premiere the first two episodes on Wednesday, April 8th, followed by weekly episodes, leading up to the epic series finale on Wednesday, May 20th.
In the fifth and final season, it’s Homelander’s world, completely subject to his erratic, egomaniacal whims. Hughie, Mother’s Milk, and Frenchie are imprisoned in a “Freedom Camp.” Annie struggles to mount a resistance against the overwhelming Supe force. Kimiko is nowhere to be found. But when Butcher reappears, ready and willing to use a virus that will wipe all Supes off the map, he sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the world and everyone in it. It’s the climax, people. Big stuff’s gonna happen.