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If Prime Video’s final season Boys Not being written before the 2024 election, you might think the new episodes were a bit cheesy.
There are federal troops being sent into American cities, and undesirables are being rounded up and sent to “freedom camps,” White House press conferences that turn into satirical taunting sessions. And leading the country is a megalomaniac – Homelander always catches Antony Starr’s attention – who might go crazy.
The popular superhero show kicks off its fifth season on Wednesday with eight episodes that dive straight into the final arc of the drama as a group of anti-Soap crusaders (led by Butcher’s Karl Urban and Erin Moriarty’s Starlight) try to find a way to stop Homelander and his gang (including Chace Crawford’s The Deep, now his trope-defending podcast bro) from destroying the country. While the show has always been a multifaceted satire of Hollywood and social media, this season’s political storylines are sure to be a little different (see the clip below).
One seemingly wild story involves a character insisting on being compared to Jesus, minutes into our conversation with him Boys Content creator Eric Kripke, White House Office of Faith Senior Advisor Pastor Paula White, went viral for comparing Trump to Jesus at an Easter event. Kripke swears none of this was intentional, and if anything, he seems upset by it. Here’s our spoiler-free conversation about the new episodes.
Boys Perhaps it leaned into its political satire and authoritarian elements more than others this season. Not in a forced way but in a way that makes sense – based on where the show started and how it progresses. But what was it like for you guys watching the headlines leading up to the premiere, especially since the show ended almost a year ago? Even just the fact that the word “Homeland”, because of DHS and ICE, became a political villain right before your final season.
It’s not a great feeling. It’s a sinking feeling. It’s never cool when the world overtakes your superhero show with exploding penises. Things that have happened since we wrote it – including concentration camps, federal troops being sent into cities… even little references like that clown in charge of the army.[In the show we have a character named] General chaos. When you think of the clown currently in charge, Secretary…?
Minister of War.
Minister of War! Because he needs to be more macho [with his title changing from Secretary of Defense]. When we were writing [the season] – And I swear I’m not making this up – we really thought there was a little bit out there, and that this was the furthest we’d ventured into full-blown science fiction – or at least speculative fiction. Much of it has already happened. It’s really annoying. I don’t know what to say about that.
Without giving away any spoilers, there’s an episode midway through the season where I wondered: Did you ever think you might be? also Mocking America?
It’s interesting that you say that. We’re very aware that people think the show can be satirical or dystopian. We really tried – because we’re optimistic people, as a group of writers – we really tried to make hope one of the main themes this season. He loves [being in] The worst possible circumstances without giving up, without becoming cynical, without putting your head in the sand. And that’s really what the characters suffer from.
It was also important for us – and this comes up again and again on the show – to show that our quarrel is not with people. You see characters like [spoiler omitted]Obviously, he’s a right winger. But he’s a good guy. There are characters like this season. Because we are trying to show that the leaders are the ones who really cause the problems.
There are recurring jokes about AI replacing screenwriters this season. I especially like the story about the AI Taylor Sheridan who refuses to take notes. But be honest: Are you using AI for anything?
I can confidently say that the writers room is 100% AI-free. But I’m not going to lie, I use it synonymously all the time. It’s better than Google because you can explain the tone and type of word you’re looking for and its context, and it’s much better at coming up with synonyms. But so far, that’s it. That, and [making] Stupid pictures of my friends.
As much as the show is a political satire, this season might have the most in-jokes about Hollywood I’ve seen from it yet. For example, I was able to access almost every major topic Hollywood Reporter We had you covered last year.
I’m so glad to hear you say that. We have this goal – above all else – we want to be the most accurate show within Hollywood. clearly, [Apple TV’s] studio He does it better. But just to introduce a lot of those inside jokes – and the more obscure, the better. Like the Taylor Sheridan thing that came out of my kids watching Landman. So I’m watching it like, “This is it Landman? This is crazy.” Then we started talking about it and it became… [show within the show titled] American eagle.
You’ve probably been asked this question before, but have you ever had a moment in your writers’ room where someone took offense to an idea? Like where someone says something fair also far.
When you come to work on this show, you know what you’re signing up for. But I also have a wide open door if there’s something bothersome, to come to me and talk to me about it, and we’ll deal with it. It’s important to make the room feel like a safe space – in the same way you want to make the group feel like a safe space. So it’s safe to take risks and say things that might be crazy. Or if you’re speaking in the voice of a character you hate, you have to say something he really hates. But the writers in general love each other so much that I think it was mostly okay.
Finally, what are you most excited about in the final season of the series? Boys?
Arouse is the wrong word. What makes me more… anxiety As far as the final season goes, we really hope we land the plane. The ending is very difficult to do. Fans will judge the show in retrospect based on how they feel about the ending. If we get tough, they’ll definitely say, “Well, that show wasn’t as good as we thought.” It’s as if you’re trying to secure your legacy with these finals. It’s the first finale I’ve ever done as well, so I don’t seem to have any experience with it. So I’m mostly worried and girding my loins.
Well, based on episodes one through seven, I think fans should be pretty happy.
So I must keep my loins wide open.
