Gen V Bosses on Finale’s Surprise Boys Cameos, How the Two Shows Will Play Into Each Other After That Cliffhanger
Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Gen V season finale. Proceed at your own risk!
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More like what didn’t happen on the Gen V Season 1 finale, am I right?
The eventful episode found Cate and Sam (willingly numb, courtesy of Cate’s powers) facing off against Marie, Jordan, Andre and Emma as a supes civil war broke out on the Godolkin campus after Cate and Sam freed everyone from The Woods. In the midst of it all, Sam said some harsh words to Emma (“You would do anything for everyone to like you. You’re not a hero”), after which she literally shrunk, and Andre tried to reason with Cate, but refused to take her hand. Meanwhile, Marie was able to transform the rogues’ blood into weapons, and then as Cate reached out to touch Jordan, Marie spontaneously exploded the blonde’s arm to save Jordan.
All the mayhem left a frantic Ashley with no choice but to call in reinforcements in the form of Homelander (The Boys star Antony Starr), who was none too happy when he arrived.
“What kind of animal are you? Do you like attacking your own kind?” he asked Marie before striking her with his laser eyes. Later, a smug-looking Homelander watched a newscast painting Marie, Emma, Jordan and Andre as the ones responsible for the Godolkin massacre, while Cate and Sam were announced as the new Guardians of Godolkin.
As for Marie’s condition, she woke up in a hospital-like bed and was greeted by Jordan, Andre and Emma, who were also sporting hospital gowns. (Reminder: Andre might be experiencing microtears, like his father Polarity, every time he uses his powers, which he certainly expended during the big battle.)
“There’s no doors,” a nervous Marie observed, adding, “Where are we?!”
But that’s not all! A mid-credits bonus scene featured The Boys’ Butcher (Karl Urban) in The Woods, where he (naturally) declared with a smirk, “What a bunch of c—nts.”
Also, fun side note: Maverick is Translucent’s son!
Below, co-showrunner Michele Fazekas and executive producer/The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke break down the finale’s big twists and what ramifications those Boys cameos will have for the mothership series in Season 4. Plus, don’t forget to grade the episode and season via the polls down below.
TVLINE | Why did you want to bring Homelander in? And what would you say his objective is in this episode?
MICHELE FAZEKAS | It felt like you can’t ring that bell a lot of times. So we wanted to make sure it made sense. Where do you see Homelander in this season? It had come up in different pitches, and then it just sort of started to make sense that, yeah, sort of the penultimate scene in this episode feels like the right place to see him. His objective is to slap all of these stupid kids back into line. Like, “Do you forget what you are, what we are?” I think he’s furious that he even has to be involved in this. He’s been called in by Ashley, who’s like, “We’re about to be murdered. Please come in.” So this is a pain in the ass for him, and he’s pissed off. I think it’s a real hard dose of reality for our heroes, who think we’re doing the right thing, we’re saving people, and now they’re being told, no, that was the exact wrong thing to do.
ERIC KRIPKE | Yeah, I love that, like, they call in Superman, [and] Superman lands and takes the villains’ side.
TVLINE | Yeah, it’s a bit twisted.
KRIPKE | But on brand for Homey.
TVLINE | Homelander looks very pleased at the newscast and the turn of events at the end of the finale. What kind of ramifications will his intervention and what happens with the Godolkin 4 and the new Guardians of Godolkin have for not only Gen V, but also for The Boys Season 4, potentially?
FAZEKAS | Well, for Gen V, our heroes are divided, and many of them are being billed as these terrorists. That’s kind of where we leave them, and so it has huge implications on Season 2, because it’s like, well, how do you get out of that?
KRIPKE | And in The Boys, I don’t really want to spoil anything, but we continue on that track, which is it’s very much within this universe that if you truly want to do the heroic thing, like Marie and the others did, that usually means you’ll end up being painted as the villain, and the ones who are doing the villainous stuff tend to get painted as the heroes — that’s a longstanding theme in this universe — and then that continues to track through The Boys Season 4.
TVLINE | You also have a Butcher cameo. Was that just like a fun bonus scene? Or does him discovering The Woods also have importance for The Boys?
KRIPKE | No, it does. It honestly came from The Boys [writers] room as we were breaking Season 4, when they were heading towards that [Gen V] episode. We knew that we wanted the virus to be a big Season 4 storyline, and we knew we wanted Butcher to be aware of it. So the pitch started coming out, like, “Well, can we see him finding out about it? Or can we show the moment where we think he’s going to learn about it?” We kept talking about it, and we said, “Well, why aren’t we just putting it in Gen V so he can be, like, right on its tail, sniffing out the trail of the virus immediately rather than talking about it in dialogue?”
FAZEKAS | I think that you guys had said, “Hey, can he find the virus?” We’re like, “Well, the virus is no longer here. Victoria Neuman has it.” So it was a little bit of, like, how can we just plant a seed?
KRIPKE | Right. It’s good how the [writers] rooms can communicate and set up that moment. And Karl [Urban] and Ant [Starr] both were awesome, cool with working on their days off. So that was really, really great of them.
TVLINE | You’ve had quite a bit of crossover from The Boys to Gen V. Eric, will we see Gen V characters on The Boys next season?
KRIPKE | I will neither confirm or deny that fact, but tune in to find out.
TVLINE | After Homelander arrives on the scene, we don’t see what happens to Cate and Sam in the flesh. So is that something we should be concerned about? Or am I reading too much into that?
KRIPKE | Yeah, you might be reading too much into it. They’re very much ideologically aligned where Homelander is. So I think when you agree with what Homelander thinks and feels, you tend to be pretty safe.
TVLINE | What are you hoping to get out of this new storyline with Sam and Cate as the new Guardians of Godolkin? What does that open up for you next season?
FAZEKAS | We’re sort of leaving this season with more than half of our heroes being called terrorists, and the two people who were basically like murderers in the season finale being celebrated as heroes. So that’s got a huge impact on what happens [next season]. This first season was all about disillusionment: Everything you think is right in the world is wrong, and good deeds go punished all the time. So that has a huge impact on our characters coming into the second season. Plus, we have all Season 4 of The Boys happening, and so that’s going to have a big impact on how we get into the second season.
TVLINE | Michele, what can you say about the situation that Marie, Jordan, Emma, and Andre have found themselves in at the end of the finale?
FAZEKAS | I think what they’re about to learn is there are going to be consequences for their choices.
TVLINE | The health issues affecting Polarity are also a potential problem for Andre, especially with him using his powers during the big fight, but he seemed OK at the end of the episode. How significantly has he been affected?
FAZEKAS | What I can say to this is Polarity has been using his powers arguably his whole life. And he’s only now starting to become seriously affected. Make of that what you will!
TVLINE | What was the thinking behind the new aspect of Emma’s powers? Did Sam make her feel small so she physically became small?
FAZEKAS | We like exploring the supes “leveling up” or evolving their powers. Emma believes her power could only be accessed through bingeing or purging. And now she’s learned it can be affected by her emotional state. But it’s complicated too, — because at the moment, it’s not in her control. More to come!
Gen V fans, grade the season ender below, then hit the comments with your thoughts on all the big twists!
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