In the penultimate episode of The Boys, Soldier Boy decides he's had quite enough of Homelander's vision for America and decides to head down south. Unfortunately, he's foiled by his son, who chokes him out and places the veteran Supe back in stasis.
What we didn't realise at the time is that this scene would be the last time we'd see Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy in The Boys.
In an interview with Collider, showrunner Eric Kripke was asked about the nod to Supernatural when Soldier Boy says to Homelander, "This was never going to be a playing catch on the front lawn, fixing up the old Impala bullshit."
"Knowing that that was going to be Jensen’s last scene in the series, we wanted to put in one last reference," he continued, confirming that Soldier Boy's story is over. "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," he added, confirming the Easter Egg was added in post-production.
With Vought Rising on the horizon, Ackles will return as Soldier Boy, but that series is set in the past, so we're in the dark about what will become of him in the present. Thanks to the negativity already surrounding The Boys Season 5, this news is being heavily criticised on social media.
This isn't the only spoiler doing the rounds, as Kripke dropped quite the Homelander bombshell in a YouTube interview with the site.
Reflecting on what might have been for Gen V Season 3 (the series was cancelled after Season 2), he said, "When Annie says to Marie, 'What good's all that power if you can't control it?' And when Marie says, 'Reports of my awesomeness have been greatly exaggerated,' those are all hints of what we were planning to do for our season 3."
"Their story was not over just because Homelander's dead. There was a whole other interesting space that they occupy as young adults in this world. We're working hard to figure out a way to continue their stories."
While Homelander's death in The Boys' Season 5 finale isn't hugely surprising—it's hard to say how else his story could end at this point—this is a pretty huge reveal to surface online just days before the finale drops.
Ultimately, regardless of the villain's final fate, the hope now is that The Boys can end on a high note before spin-offs like Vought Rising and The Boys: Mexico follow.
The Boys Season 5 is now streaming weekly on Prime Video.