Showrunner Eric Kripke talks to THR at San Diego Comic-Con and teases what fans can expect in the final season of 'The Boys.' Plus, he explains the parallels between real life and 'The Boys' storylines.
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00:00What was it like getting back on that stage today at Comic-Con and addressing
00:04all of your fans in Hall H? It was incredible. Last time we were here was
00:082019. The show hadn't even dropped. We were literally walking among the fans at
00:14the time, giving out In-N-Out burgers, trying to get them to come to our panel.
00:19And so to be back and to be in Hall H is an amazing full-circle moment and
00:26you'll just, you'll never feel more like a rock star in your life. And then you go
00:31home and then my wife says, yeah yeah great, take out the garbage. But for that
00:36moment, it's pretty great. You announced a new spin-off, Vought Rising. How excited
00:41are you for fans to see this show and what can you tease about it? I'm super
00:46excited for this show. Paul Grelang, who's one of our most
00:50brilliant boys writers, is creating it and writing it. And it's like, it's like
00:56LA Confidential with superheroes. So it's like fedoras and trench coats and
01:01like, you know, salacious, grimy, you know, stuff of celebrities in the 50s and just
01:07such a fun world. And you know, The Boys in many ways is a cops-and-robbers story.
01:13So to go like right to the source of film noir is really, really fun. And of
01:19course Jensen and Aya, you couldn't ask for two better leads. So I'm just, I
01:24really, I really, really love this one. How does it feel to get to work with
01:28Jensen again on his own show in The Boys universe? You know, it fulfills a pact we
01:34made some 20 years ago where I will keep him gainfully employed as long as I can.
01:38And no, look, we're brothers and I love working with him and so any
01:45opportunity that I can have to work with Jensen, I'll take it. The audience for The
01:49Boys has grown season over season. What do you think it is about the show that
01:53not only keeps fans coming back, but keeps on bringing in new fans of The
01:57Boys? I mean, you know, beyond like all the shocking stuff and all the
02:02controversial stuff, I think it's the characters. I think, you know, TV is the
02:06character business and ultimately people love, start to love those characters,
02:13whether, you know, whether it's Annie and Huey or any of the whack jobs in The
02:18Seven, you know, people connect and enjoy watching them. And at the end of the day,
02:23that's what we have to focus on. Huey really went through the ringer this
02:27season. It seemed like he could just not catch a break. Why was this the right
02:30storyline for him this season, though? You know, we really wanted to tell a
02:35story about holding on to his humanity and his morals no matter how much
02:42happens to him, which a lot happens to him. But, you know, that was by design and
02:50the fact that he was able to hold on to who he was, in a lot of ways, makes him
02:55the most heroic character. And, you know, we're at the end of season four. There's
03:01another season to go, so it's like he had to hit this low point to really come
03:05back triumphantly next season, which he will. As we head into season five, I know
03:11you probably can't give too much away, but what can you tease and say about the
03:14final season? You know, we really blow the doors off it. It's so fun to be able
03:21to end a show on your own terms and to have it, like, reach the highest possible
03:27level of conflict and drama. And, you know, like Homelander, like what happened in
03:33the final moments of season four? Like, it's a whole new world and our guys
03:39have a big job ahead of them, and so it's gonna be really, like, epic. Sometimes
03:45in real life, it feels like we're living in an episode of The Boys. What's your
03:49take on the way this show somehow seems to predict the future and what's really
03:53gonna happen? I mean, you know, look, we're just a superhero show and we're not
04:00really predicting anything. It's just more like we're writing about the mood
04:06and the tone of the world, you know, and what, or at least our perspective and
04:12observation of it. And so, sort of, inevitably there's some, like, lineups
04:17with, like, what's really happening because we're trying to reflect the
04:22world back. But I don't want to be connected with anything in the real
04:26world. I'm happy making my, you know, superhero show with penises and, like,
04:33that's just where I want to stay.