The Boys Is Already Preparing You for Disappointment With Its Series Finale

The Boys is headed towards its series finale, but it already knows that it can’t please everybody. Prime Video’s Supe series is wrapping things up with Season 5, with creator and showrunner Eric Kripke choosing to end the show as what’s best for the story. That’s not a bad thing, as it means going out on his terms rather than the show outstaying its welcome. At the same time, it poses a significant challenge because it is extremely difficult to get endings right.

This is something that we’ve seen quite a bit, especially in genre TV over the past 10-15 years. Game of Thrones‘ series finale sparked a major backlash, and more recently, Stranger Things‘ ending was divisive. Kripke’s previous show, Supernatural, also faced this issue, having run for 10 seasons longer than his original 5-season plan. So it’s something he is keenly aware of, and that’s made its way into The Boys Season 5 directly, thanks to the new, rather gross new Supe named the Worm, who reflects on writing a script for the finale of a TV show, saying:

“You try making everyone happy, but you can’t. Finales are the worst.” After that, he asks, “What did you guys think of the Lost finale?”

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The reference to Lost is particularly telling, given that, prior to Thrones, it was the go-to as an example of a bad series finale. Retrospective responses are a little kinder to it, but the broad reputation is still of an ending that was a disappointment, which is very hard to shake. Kripke has previously discussed this fear for The Boys‘ series finale on the Creator to Creator podcast with Shawn Ryan, saying he was in a “fair amount of terror” about it back in 2025, adding:

“You can count in one, maybe two hands, the truly great series finales. Of which, by the way, well done, I think The Shield is one of them. And, conversely, the graveyard is literally filled with terrible [series finales]. You could have the greatest show for years, but if you stiff that ending, and that’s what’s sending everyone out in the parking lot, they go, ‘Oh, maybe that show wasn’t that good.’”

There are several challenges to the show sticking the (superhero) landing. Some of that is inevitable, with the show having been running for seven years. There’s a level of audience investment in the characters and storylines, plus an expectation of where things might be going, that is difficult to live up to, no matter what. But it’s also a show with some specific issues, too: it has been faced with satirizing a real-life political landscape that’s often been crazier than anything writers could come up with, and satirizing superhero movies and TV franchises while becoming one itself.

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With that, then at least it is getting out at the right time, as I think going beyond Season 5 things would start to feel like they’re being run into the ground. Whichever way it handles Homelander’s defeat – whether he dies or not, who beats him, and how it all happens – seems pretty much guaranteed to split opinion, and the same is likely true for Butcher’s fate as well. But the death of A-Train in Episode 1 is something that felt right for the character’s arc and direction of the show, rather than something done for shock value or a late twist, which is encouraging.

This is something else that Kripke has previously been aware of: that the emotional journeys and stakes are what really matter when crafting an ending, even more so than the narrative. He said: “My process in the writer’s room is I always want to break the emotional arcs before I break the plot arcs, because my feeling is a plot turn or a set piece, all that stuff is a dime a dozen, but if it’s not a metaphor for what the character is emotionally going through, or some political point you want to make, then it’s just empty. It’s just floating around. That is my biggest fear and challenge.”

That’s about as good a starting point as you could hope for in building to the series finale. With the likes of Butcher, Hughie, Annie, and so many other major characters, while getting the balance right will be very, very difficult, it’s about feeling like it’s true to their arcs, and having endings that deliver the right emotional payoff.

There’s a lot that Season 5 could easily get lost in, given the long history of Vought, plus the introduction of characters from Gen V, and whatever new twists are in store. But if it can stay true to the core of the show – in terms of characters, story, and themes – then, hopefully, it’ll be one of the endings that works. And if it doesn’t, well, you can’t say it didn’t warn you.

New episodes of The Boys release on Wednesdays on Prime Video.

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