A character from The Boys spin-off Vought Rising will appear later in season 5, but the episode won't be "mandatory viewing"

Eric Kripke is doing what he does best: telling us we can pick and choose with shows within The Boys universe we watch, despite the increasing connectivity between them all.

In an new interview with Variety, the showrunner teased that The Boys season 5 will be peppered with "references to Vought Rising", the 1950s-set series that'll center on The Boys baddies Stormfront (Aya Cash) and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). So much so, in fact, that it'll explicitly introduce another character due to appear in the prequel – though he insists the fifth and final season won't wind up being "mandatory viewing".

"The goal was to have just enough to get people excited for Vought Rising. You don't at all need to have seen The Boys to appreciate Vought Rising," he told the publication. "It's its own story. We're trying really hard to strike a balance of each series being its own animal, and you don't have to do homework to enjoy it."

The character Kripke is alluding to is undoubtedly Mason Dye's Bombsight, who's been previously mentioned onscreen as the third oldest supe in history. Unlike Stormfront, Soldier Boy and Gen V character Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater), who's also geared up to feature in the spin-off, Bombsight doesn't appear in Garth Ennis's original graphic novels, so his guest role in The Boys will be as fresh and surprising to readers as it will be to regular viewers.

Other new supes in Vought Rising will include Elizabeth Posey's Private Angel and Will Hochman's Torpedo.

As for the links between the shows, we know from for The Boys season 5 trailer that Gen V's Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) and Jordan Li (London Thor/Derek Luh) will team up with Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and co to help take down Homelander at some point. But yeah, no title is on a need to watch basis!

New episodes of The Boys season 5 are dropped every Wednesday. Ensure you never miss any of the action with our guide to The Boys season 5 release schedule.

If superheroes aren't your thing, check out our picks of the best shows on Amazon Prime for some watchlist inspiration.