SPOILERS: This post contains details about The Boys series finale ‘Blood and Bone’
After five seasons and multiple bloody battles, The Boys wrapped up its biggest conflict with Wednesday’s highly-anticipated series finale.
But series creator and showrunner Eric Kripke noted to Deadline that Jack Quaid’s Hughie and Karl Urban’s Butcher were “the secret conflict of the show,” which made the final moments of the episode ‘Blood and Bone’, which sees the pair in a fight to the death, “so satisfying” to write.
“Yeah, that was just about the only thing we knew we were gonna do from the very, very beginning,” he explained. “It’s helpful that, outside of Robin getting run over in the first episode, it’s about as faithful to the comics as we get.”
Kripke added, “For me, my favorite scenes of the episode and the season, that one is right up there, because from the writer’s perspective, it was so satisfying to bring together threads that we’ve been planting for seven years now. It’s really the emotional heart of the show, those two in their relationship, in so many ways, so it was really satisfying to be able to finally cap that off.”
Hughie and Butcher’s heartbreaking conclusion aside, Kripke also ended the show’s other major conflict with a “really cathartic” live-streamed execution from the Oval Office, killing off the show’s big bad, Homelander (Antony Starr), only after Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) uses her DIY radiated chest blast to take away his powers.
Antony Starr as Homelander in ‘The Boys’
“Yeah, it was really important to us for Homelander to at least experience a little bit of time powerless,” said Kripke. “People have asked me, ‘Well, why don’t you send him out in the world powerless, wouldn’t that be the ultimate punishment?’ I’m like, it would, until he gets his hands on some more Compound V, and then you’re back to where you started.
“So, he cannot walk out of that room alive, but we can spend time with him powerless to really reveal what everyone’s been saying all season, which is, ‘Take away those powers and you are nothing.’ And he’s so cowardly and blubbering and pathetic, as are most strong men when you remove their power and they’re and they’re faced with their imminent death, they rarely handle it bravely,” he added.
Following the finale’s 4DX theatrical premiere on Tuesday, Kripke spoked to Deadline about Hughie and Annie’s “hopeful” ending, which character was surprised to have “survived that long,” and the real-life “disruptor” they finally parodied in the last episode.
Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell and Karl Urban as Billy Butcher in ‘The Boys’
Read on for Eric Kripke’s parting thoughts on The Boys, all episodes of which are now available to stream on Prime Video.
DEADLINE: One thing I’m really curious about is the whole 4DX theatrical experience. What was it like collaborating with the theaters on that?
ERIC KRIPKE: I mean, I didn’t have a ton of collaboration, but we were able to go in this past week and watch it with the programming that the good people at 4DX provided, and I had never done 4DX before. Have you done 40X?
DEADLINE: Like when I was a kid, at Disney World.
KRIPKE: Right? I’ve never done it. And so I thought it was like, “Oh, there’s gonna be a little rumble, right? And then maybe like a thing of wind will blow in my face.” That thing was like a ride. That thing was like being on one of these rides where you’re getting thrown around and water splashing in your face, and I had so much fun cause it’s basically turning your show into a carnival, into basically an amusement park ride. I had like four notes. I was like, “Maybe this should be this.” What do I know about that business? I can only talk about, “The story point we want to get across is something that’s actually supposed to be gentle rather than actiony, so maybe lighten up on this moment.” They even have little things in your seats where when the punch is thrown, they’ll punch you in the back. It’s crazy. I had the best time. It was so fun.
DEADLINE: That sounds awesome. And it was so satisfying to see Homelander not only get killed but lose his power before he dies. Can you tell me why that was so important?
KRIPKE: Yeah, it was really important to us for Homelander to at least experience a little bit of time powerless. People have asked me, “Well, why don’t you send him out in the world powerless, wouldn’t that be the ultimate punishment?” I’m like, it would, until he gets his hands on some more Compound V, and then you’re back to where you started. So, he cannot walk out of that room alive, but we can spend time with him powerless to really reveal what everyone’s been saying all season, which is, “Take away those powers and you are nothing.” And he’s so cowardly and blubbering and pathetic, as are most strong men when you remove their power and they’re and they’re faced with their imminent death, they rarely handle it bravely. And so, it was just so satisfying when he does that salmon jump—is what we call it, where they’re trying to take off. And it’s even a little bit of an in joke, because that’s how he always looks on set whenever we’re filming him flying away. So it was so fun to actually be able to show it on camera without CG taking over, which is what we’ve always done up to this point, so it was a blast. It was really, really cathartic after all those years.
Karl Urban as Billy Butcher in ‘The Boys’
DEADLINE: That’s funny. And I know you’ve acknowledged this, but it’s crazy just how many Trumpisms that you’ve predicted this season. But also, in that last episode, it was funny to see the Elon Musk ‘Dark MAGA’ guy in there.
KRIPKE: What made you think it was Elon Musk? Yeah, I mean, the idea of like the Disruptor was a character that has been continually pitched throughout the season, as just something that is really existing in the world that was just such a perfect target, and it never really fit before. But then we needed this one scene to prove where Homelander’s head was at for this final episode, and so David Reed, who co-wrote the episode with Judalina Neira, said, “Well, let’s bring in the Disruptor.” And so, it was just a short little bit, butjust one last little satirical target before end the show.
DEADLINE: Because it was black on black, I couldn’t tell—what did the hat say?
KRIPKE: Oh, I think the hat says, “Make America Super Again,” but it’s black on black.
Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Susan Heyward as Sister Sage, Laz Alonso as Mother’s Milk, Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell, Erin Moriarty as Annie January/Starlight and Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko in ‘The Boys’
DEADLINE: Got it. Well, In addition to killing off Homelander, which was very important, we also have that really emotional scene of Hughie and Butcher’s final fight. Can you tell me about the emotional weight behind that scene?
KRIPKE: Yeah, that was just about the only thing we knew we were gonna do from the very, very beginning. It’s helpful that, outside of Robin getting run over in the first episode, it’s about as faithful to the comics as we get. And I always love that last moment of, it all comes down to just those two characters, and so we had a target we were aiming for. And I always say, it’s kind of the secret conflict of the show. Everyone focuses on Butcher versus Homelander, but we’ve laid so much infrastructure in terms of Hughie and Butcher, and what Hughie’s relationship to Butcher is, and why Butcher brought him on the team in the first place. One good thing about Butcher is, he knows he’s a sociopath with no conscience, and so he brings in an external conscience. And Hughie’s goal from the beginning was to be his little brother and to stop him when he finally goes too far. And so, for me, my favorite scenes of the episode and the season, that one is right up there, because from the writer’s perspective, it was so satisfying to bring together threads that we’ve been planting for seven years now. It’s really the emotional heart of the show, those two in their relationship, in so many ways, so it was really satisfying to be able to finally cap that off.
DEADLINE: Also, it was great seeing The Deep finally get what he had coming. But I’m curious,I could definitely see how it was kind of mirroring what he did to Annie, but was the Deep popcorn bucket also supposed to kind of foreshadow his death?
KRIPKE: I mean, now it is. Like now, whenever anyone asks me, I’ll be like, “Yes, of course, that was obviously what we were doing.” But no, no, no, that was just The Deep, being The Deep, who I would just like to point out, had so many opportunities to make the right decision over and over and over and over again. And even at that last moment, Annie was like, “Just take responsibility for yourself, just once.” And he did that Braveheart scream, “No!” And so, to the last [scene], that guy consistently makes the wrong choice, and he pays for it.
DEADLINE: Yeah, he definitely survived longer than he should have, probably.
KRIPKE: When I told Chase—cause you have to call everyone when you tell them they’re dying, and what episode they’re dying in—and I’m like, “You’re dying in episode 8. Sorry man, but The Deep is done.” And he just was like, “I made it to episode 8, baby!” He was so excited that he survived that long. But he’s been one of the core characters. Even Noir, that wasn’t the real Noir. The real Noir died a couple of seasons ago. This was an actor playing Noir, so there’s very few core Supes left, and I think he deserved his spot in the finale.
Chace Crawford as The Deep in ‘The Boys’
DEADLINE: Are there gonna be any Deep popcorn buckets at the 4DX experience?
KRIPKE: God, I hope not. They’re so disturbing. The thing about those buckets is, when you have them in person, you can barely get your hand in the mouth. So, they’re not even functional as popcorn buckets. So, I don’t recommend anyone use them for real.
DEADLINE: Good to know. But I also loved Hughie and Annie getting the happy ending. It felt very earned, especially them kissing on the sidewalk, mirroring the whole Robin moment. Tell me about keeping the viewers on the edge of their seats for that ending.
KRIPKE: I mean, I don’t think we were really gonna explode a pregnant Annie on the street. But no, I think what you said is well said. I’ve always said the show is hopeful, and that it just comes through, an incredible amount of sacrifice, an incredible amount of failure, but if you get up every time, you can find a life worth living. And it’s not gonna be perfect. I mean, we tried to very intentionally make the point of, she’s throwing up and she’s fighting with her mom. It’s not this totally, everything’s amazing, and then there’s superheroes running around, not supported by Vought anymore. Nothing’s perfect, but they’re pulling together as a family, and there’s hope in that, and that’s how the world gets saved.
Erin Moriarty as Annie January/Starlight and Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell in ‘The Boys’
DEADLINE: I’m also very curious just about Vought Rising and just the future of The Boys franchise, and potentially bringing back some of the Gen V characters and storylines. It makes me wonder, is Vought Rising gonna be set in two timelines or multiple timelines? Can you tell me?
KRIPKE: No comment.
DEADLINE: I understand. But is there anything you can tell me about how the finale sets up Vought Rising?
KRIPKE: I mean, I don’t think the finale episode itself sets up Vought Rising. I think what we saw of Soldier Boy and meeting Bombsight and some references to some of the other original Supes, is about the only setup we’re doing. But how’s this for a vague tease; I will say that, we have a few surprises and tricks up our sleeve in V Rising.
