You know what they say... You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. But five seasons in, and The Boys' Eric Kripke insists they're trying their best to not do an MCU and make its spin-offs feel like "required homework".
Despite Jaz Sinclair's Marie Moreau and a couple of the other Gen V kids being glimpsed in the final chapter's trailer, the showrunner recently told Black Film and TV (via The Boys Out of Context Clips) that they're "really trying to avoid" making fans feel like they have to watch every show to keep up.
"We never wanna do too much like I'm really scared of the required homework to understand what something is…" he admitted. "It has to be about the level of an Easter egg… The idea that it becomes this chore is something we're really trying to avoid."
This isn't the first time Kripke has addressed the increasing connectivity between The Boys, Gen V, and upcoming prequel Vought Rising, which is set to see the return of Stormfront (Aya Cash), Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), and Ethan Slater's Thomas Godolkin. When he was asked for an update on The Boys: Mexico back in May 2024, he explained to Entertainment Weekly: "I never want it to feel like mandatory viewing. I think that's hurt Marvel in a certain amount of ways, and I don't want to do that.
"I want you to watch both shows. It certainly expands your enjoyment and experience of both shows because you understand some of the backstory of where things came from, but by no means do you have to."
If you've watched Gen V, you'll know that bloodbender Marie and Homelander (Antony Starr) were the only successful products of Project Odessa, an underground project Vought was running in the 1960s to try and manufacture superior Supes. With that, it's been widely discussed that the former is best placed to kill Homelander, so it seems pretty important to me that you'd be up to speed with all that heading into The Boys' last-ever episodes. But I'll choose to take Kripke at his word for now.
The Boys season 5 premieres on April 8. While we wait, check out our picks of the best shows on Prime Video for some watchlist inspiration.
