The Boys Season 4: Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Joe Kessler Delivers Major Twist

Spoilers for ! The Boys fans have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the series for years now. Ever since Morgan revealed he and series creator Eric Kripke had been talking about it since season 2 it’s been on fan’s minds, especially with speculation about who he might play. The season 4 premiere of The Boys revealed that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character is none other than Joe Kessler, a figure from Butcher’s past that is helping him carry out his plot with the supe-killing virus seen in Gen V. This week however delivered a major twist, confirming Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Joe Kessler isn’t even real.

If you’ve been paying attention while watching The Boys season 4, you may have noticed a few things, like how Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher is the only person that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Joe Kessler ever talks to. Even when they appear in scenes where other people walk past them, no one acknowledges or speaks to Kessler. It’s a classic bit for the imaginary character trope that once you realize it, you’ll never unsee. The latest episode of The Boys season 4 deploys the reveal that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Joe Kessler isn’t real in a very clever way though. 

While Butcher is at the center of another internal conflict, having kidnapped a Vought scientist to synthesize a more powerful version of the supe-killing virus. Butcher hopes to make one capable of killing Homelander, but it’s clear that a virus that powerful would kill every person with Compound V in their body. Kessler seems all in favor of this while Butcher is conflicted, as the hallucination of Rebecca is pleading with him to not go along with it, Kessler turns to her and tells her to shut up, confirming that not only can he SEE Becca, but that he is also a hallucination.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Joe Kessler breaks it down for Butcher at that point, revealing that the real Joe Kessler is dead and that Butcher’s Compound V-induced brain tumor has put him in a weird spot, hallucinating a host of people that aren’t there. Kessler then breaks down that he’s the part of Butcher that has no inhibitions and resorts to violence because he can, even confirming that he’s the one that took over Butcher’s body when he killed Ezekiel. The episode ends with Joe Kessler telling him “Daddy’s home.”   

In The Boys season 4, Karl Urban stars once again as Billy Butcher, leader of The Boys, which also includes Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell, Laz Alonso as M.M., Tomer Capone as Frenchie, and Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro. Some of the “supes” featured in the series include Antony Starr as Homelander, Jessie T. Usher as A-Train, and Chace Crawford as The Deep. Other stars of The Boys include Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett, CEO of Vought International, and Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman.  

The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son as well as his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.