SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the Season 4 finale of “The Boys,” previously titled “Assassination Run” and relabeled “Season Four Finale” before Thursday launch, now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. These interviews were conducted before the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
“The Boys” Season 4 ended in the darkest timeline possible, with almost all of our Boys split up and captured by Vought. In rapid succession, Annie’s (Erin Moriarty) newly returned powers helped her escape, but forced her to leave Hughie (Jack Quaid) behind; Homelander (Antony Starr) is now fully in control of the new U.S. government, since Congress has declared martial law, and he’s planning further chaos with Sister Sage (Susan Heyward); Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) has killed the Boys’ founder, Grace Mallory (Laila Robins), in a Homelander-esque rage, and runs away; and Butcher (Karl Urban) and his imaginary friend Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) ride off into the night with a vial of the global pandemic-level supe virus, after Butcher killed a repentant Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit).
And that’s not even counting what happens after the finale credits begin to roll, when it’s revealed to Homelander that his supe father, Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, is alive, and is currently being held in a frozen state, just waiting to be revived.
With so much to unpack heading into the fifth and final season of “The Boys,” Variety broke down some of the biggest plot points from the Season 4 finale with the Amazon superhero show’s stars.
Will Kessler be returning in the final season after appearing in the backseat of Butcher’s car in the final moments? And if he does, are you looking forward to potential scenes with some of your “Supernatural” co-stars, including Jensen Ackles and Jim Beaver (who played president-elect Robert Singer)?
JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN: I don’t know how you do Season 5 without an appearance, at least. That’s my feeling. I’ve never had any official talks about it, but I think it’d be really hard to carry on without some sort of resolution — and hopefully that’ll be a whole season!
I want to have scenes with everyone that’s part of that show, but I obviously have a long-standing relationship with Jensen, especially. He’s like my brother. And then Jim is one of the coolest people in the world — so yeah, of course.
Jensen’s Soldier Boy was one of the single greatest characters I’ve seen in television in a long, long time. His performance blew me away. I did want to work with him — and we also have a really good time together, the two of us, especially. And, obviously, that was a carrot in front of my face that I was chasing after, sure.
Ashley shoots herself up with V in the finale after refusing to run away with A-Train, after she realizes she’s in more danger than ever around Homelander. She is instantly in pain but we cut away before we see her fate — what happens next?
COLBY MINIFIE: As we’ve seen, when V first enters your body, the historic visual on the show is that it enters your bloodstream and things start happening in your blood, and it takes over your body. So what we’re hinting at is something’s going to happen! We don’t know if she survives or dies, but I have pitched some things of what her superpower could be — they’re all humiliating. I don’t know what they’re gonna do, or how they’ll see that to fruition. But it will be something crazy.
Sage returns to Homelander at the end of the finale after he sent her away and abandoned her plan, just so she can tell him everything has turned out exactly as she orchestrated it. Now she’s teasing a “Phase 2” — is that to help Homelander further, or is she playing a larger game?
SUSAN HEYWARD: I think she’s survived in the world by playing many different chess games at once, and preparing for a lot of different situations. So she’s always doing what’s in front of her, and she’s always preparing for four or five possibilities. And it’s really, really been fun to keep people on their toes about what those possibilities might be. She siphons power from other people’s uncertainty.
Kimiko speaks for the first time ever, if we’re not counting the musical dream sequence in Season 3) — and it’s to scream “No!” as she and Frenchie are separated by “Gen V” characters Cate (Maddie Phillips) and Sam (Asa Germann). What was it like finally getting to talk? And finding out the trigger to get Kimiko to be able to speak was this tragic situation with Frenchie after they had finally entered a real romantic relationship?
KAREN FUKUHARA: It was really exciting, reading that in the script. Almost as exciting as when I read that I could heal in Season 1. I think it’s earned, as well. I think it has been building up to this moment. We see Kimiko at the top of Season 4 trying to tackle her speech therapy — and really, it’s not the physical speech therapy that she needs, it’s the emotional therapy that she needs in order to get there.
And it’s such a visceral moment at the end of the season, when we see Frenchie getting taken away and there’s nothing else she can do but to scream out his name. And it’s gutteral. I loved where we took it this season, it was a really great surprise. And I feel like I always get that question from fans: When is she gonna speak? And just you wait!
What was it like playing Shifter Annie in the final episodes of the season, and fighting yourself as Starlight Annie?
ERIN MORIARTY: That was real weird, because I have to approach it as a different character entirely. I had to basically try and deprogram my own physical mannerisms. Because I do think that there is a physicality that is innate to all of us that comes through in our characters. And I have to step onto the same set with the same crew and the same people I’ve seen everyday for years, and not be that character. So not only is the script and the character different, but I’m doing it amongst the same exact environment, and that immediately triggers me to be in Annie mode.
So the physical mannerisms are the most important to me, because I can change my voice and I can change everything about the way I speak — even the resonance of my voice — but mannerisms are very hard to deprogram. I have the weirdest videos on my phone. I needed to look at myself in the role in ways that I didn’t ultimately depict as — like, real weird. I’m talking, like, trying to be a primate weird. I filmed myself going about my house for hours at a time, and put it in fast-forward mode to try and pick up on my own mannerisms. And it was very humbling, because you don’t realize what you do regularly.
The fight with myself was a matter of going about it with John Koyama, our amazing stunt coordinator, and it was the most challenging experience I’ve ever had. Because I am just neurotic, and a Type A in recovery, it was the most satisfying experience I’ve ever had. The harder you work, the harder it will come out, and you’ll — no matter what — be baseline satisfied by it. But John Koyama made sure I was mega-satisfied.
What are your thoughts on where Season 4 ends for Frenchie and Kimiko after he’s taken away, and what you want to see happen in the final season?
TOMER CAPONE: Wow, can it be more exciting than that? It’s like a Romeo-and-Juliet-type of thing. It just makes me more curious, more hyped up, about what the amazing writers and Eric Kripke are cooking up for us for Season 5. It’s just one of those shows where every little detail can mess up the whole arc for a character.
I know the fans want it, and I’m screaming it out: There’s two things that Frenchie is missing, V — and to attend Herogasm. Frenchie and Kimiko will be all right, I think. But life will never be complete without another Herogasm for Frenchie.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
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