The Boys season four will return to Prime Video on June 13, 2024, but to the avid fan, that's not even the most exciting news.
Amazon Prime have just announced that the lewd, crude, explosive superhero show has been renewed for season five and it is already being written, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
There are still the events of season four to contend with, which the creators promised during a press release, will be "mind-blowing."
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The press release also outlined "higher stakes" for the gang, who are anything but fighting fit following that season-three finale.
Given what we've already glimpsed from the most recent trailer (more on that below), things are about to get diabolical. So what is in store for the fans?
Here's everything we know about The Boys season four – but beware, season three spoilers follow.
The Boys season 4 release date: When's it on?
The Boys season four will be back on June 13, 2024 and will kickstart the season with a three-episode drop before returning to one episode weekly.
The press release that brought us the long-awaited news states that the season will consist of eight episodes, coming to an end on Thursday, July 18.
While this is good news, fans will also have their eyes trained on season five, which has been commissioned and is already in the works.
The renewal was announced in May 2024 by Amazon Prime Video at their first upfronts presentation to advertisers.
It was then followed up by a tweet from showrunner Eric Kripke who, in response to the season five renewal, wrote:
"Fact Check: True! #TheBoys Writers are already hard at work in the writer's room. Love these sickos. #TheBoysTV"
They're not the only ones.
The Boys season 4 cast: Who will be coming back?
While so many characters teetered close to the edge of death in The Boys' season-three finale, only one was pushed to an early grave. We're sadly referring to Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), who we actually assumed wouldn't be returning for another season on account of his guts being ripped out by Homelander (Antony Starr).
But wait! As ever with The Boys, there's a twist.
"Here's what I'll say without spoiling anything, which is that particular individual who is Black Noir is dead. His organs are out all over the place," Kripke said (via CBR). "But when you have a completely silent, completely mask-clad hero, they're reasonably easy to recast."
As Kripke explained: "If we were going to play and remix the character, I think that everyone's seen a very stoic version of Black Noir, so if they were going to do something new, I think it would be fun to go in the opposite direction."
Meanwhile, though Dominique McElligott's Queen Maeve didn't meet an untimely end, it's uncertain whether or not McElligott will be reprising the role. Her character arc seems to have come to a close (more on that below), but we very much hope to see her on the call sheet.
The cast members we do expect to appear in The Boys season four are as follows:
• Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell Jr
• Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk (MM)
• Tomer Capone as Frenchie
• Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro
• Erin Moriarty as Starlight/Annie January
• Antony Starr as Homelander
• Chace Crawford as The Deep
• Jessie T Usher as A-Train
• Cameron Crovetti as Ryan
• Giancarlo Esposito as Stan Edgar
• Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett
• Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman
We also predict a Soldier Boy return, which will mean more Jensen Ackles, and that can't be a bad thing.
Kripke has also basically confirmed this by sharing that he's "100%" up for a Soldier Boy comeback.
"The old TV adage, is like, never kill anyone unless you really, really have to. Never close a door, open a window," he said. "We'll all have to wait and see, but I can't imagine the series ending without Soldier Boy making another appearance."
Jensen Ackles also said he's keen for a Soldier Boy return as well, adding: "I know Kripke is very smart about how he sends his characters off because he can always bring them back. So I know there are plans in talks, but I don't know exactly what those are. But I told Krip: 'Look, man, put me in anytime. You tell me when to come running, I'll come running'."
So basically, Soldier Boy is a go.
Simon Pegg fans can rejoice, as he'll be back for season four of The Boys, too. And he'll be joined by The Staircase's Rosemarie Dewitt as Hughie's long-lost mum.
Rob Benedict (Supernatural) and Elliot Knight (Titans) are also joining the cast in undisclosed roles, which probably means they'll be recognisable Supes from the comics.
Speaking of Supes, Susan Heyward will be playing superhero Sister Sage, and Valorie Curry will take on the mantle of Firecracker.
Also joining The Boys' season-four roster will be The Walking Dead and Grey's Anatomy actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The news was announced over social media by the official The Boys' Twitter page in a post that read: "Chuffed to welcome @JDMorgan to The Boys S4. Can't confirm if he's gettin' any tights, though."
So, if not a Supe, who will he be?
If those aren't enough new additions to raise your excitement levels, it's possible we could see Gen V characters return the cameo favour by making an appearance in season four.
After all, Butcher was seen lurking around the woods in Gen V's season-one finale, and Homelander also dropped by to do some unspeakable things in the name of 'justice' for Supes. So it's highly likely we'll see Marie (Jaz Sinclair) and the gang sooner than Gen V's season-two debut.
"In our minds, it’s only a couple of days after whatever the events are of Gen V," Kripke told Variety.
"We try to keep the timeline super simple because all that folding-in-on-itself timeline stuff that I think other comic book universes find themselves having to do is just bewildering for me as a viewer. So it’s all very modular.
"It’s like there’s season three of The Boys, and then after that Gen V takes place, and then after that The Boys season four takes place. And then after that, Gen V season two takes place. It’s all more like cars on a train than it is a plate of spaghetti."
The Boys season 4 plot: What will happen?
The Boys' official press release has teed up what's in store for the gang, and it's not looking good.
"In season four, the world is on the brink," it states. "Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power.
"Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca's son and his job as The Boys' leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it's too late."
So no pressure at all, then.
Hints were also dropped in the recent trailer that the Starlight and Homelander feud has well and truly spiralled out into public space. People have picked sides, and things are more heated than that season-three finale.
As stated above, Butcher's death sentence has all but been signed off by the Grim Reaper himself. His abuse of the temporary V drug had fatal repercussions for the tough-as-nails Supe-slayer. This could mark the end of the road for him unless Kripke has an ace in his back pocket.
Queen Maeve's fate was also unclear. During her fight with Soldier Boy, he Hungry-Caterpillar-ed her powers, gobbling them until she was mortal.
Maeve seemed pleased with the outcome and used her defeat as an excuse to fake her death and live in peace with her girlfriend Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude). However, we can't help but root for a Maeve return.
As for Soldier Boy, he may have been put on ice, but we don't imagine that's a permanent state. When he defrosts, he'll have some scores to settle – and if there's not a father-and-son showdown in the near future, we're writing a strongly worded letter that will begin: 'Dear Eric Kripke, explain yourself'.
Elsewhere, Vought and The Seven spun out of control after Homelander's takeover. The Deep and A-Train were hardly the strongest members of the gang, and yet, it is they who remain.
Season four of The Boys will have to explore the company's restoration in one way or another. We wouldn't be surprised if Ryan's indoctrination began early.
If that's not enough meat for the bone, we can't forget about the head-popper Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit). Her ultimate game plan has yet to be revealed, but we have a feeling we're getting closer.
And beyond all that, Kripke confirmed that future episodes of The Boys will also cross over with his spin-off show Gen V.
"There's a presidential campaign happening in the background of that season, and there [are] certain things that are happening at that school that are both in reaction to season three of The Boys," he explained.
"There's Soldier Boy, etcetera, but also some new storylines that are happening in that season of the spin-off that we have to pick up and take into season four of the show."
In fact, it's pretty essential that you at least watch the finale of Gen V's first season to understand some of The Boys season four. Spoilers follow.
"For Butcher, by the time they were making the finale, we were pretty deep into breaking season four," Kripke said (via Variety). "We knew that we wanted that virus to be a pretty big part of season four, and we knew that we wanted Butcher to be aware of it.
"The value of having the [two shows' writers] rooms be in coordination is, our room took it to Michele and her room and said: 'Can we put Butcher in the end, so we can show that he's really hot on the tail of the virus?'
"It was really cool, because it does a nice little preamble to what's coming next. And Karl and Ant both were willing to come in on their days off to go work on the other show. But the Homelander part was Michele [Fazekas]'s team."
Whatever happens, it's going to get weird. Season three of The Boys hit a pretty high bar for strange stuff (note the exploding penis, Herogasm, The Deep's octopus fetish etc, etc) – but in season four, the show "somehow gets weirder and weirder and weirder".
"There has to be a ceiling, but we can't seem to find it," Starr told Variety.
Recalling one particular scene he shot for the upcoming season, the Homelander actor continued: "I was looking at the person I was opposite, and I said: 'What are we doing? I can't believe this! I could have done anything else with my life, but here I am doing this?' It was truly the most bizarre thing I've ever done."
Following the release of season four's trailer, Kripke also teased a scene in season four that he described as the "batshit craziest" moment in the show's history – which really is saying something.
"I would just like to add that I was in [post-production] today, working on a season four scene that miiiiiiight be the batshit craziest thing we've ever done? Like I truly can't believe we got away with it," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
In other words, prepare yourselves now because it sounds like Homelander is about to get freakier than ever before.
The Boys season 4 trailer: When can I watch it?
If you haven't seen it already, are you really even a fan of The Boys?
The new trailer is bursting with blood and guts and is filled with Butcher's regret. A great compliment to the previous teaser trailer, which teased the political, social and moral disaster that has been birthed in Homelander's realisation that he can well and truly do "whatever the f**k [he] wants".
We get to see some of those new characters we talked about earlier, namely Jeffrey Dean Morgan's character – and, well, it's just a beaut. Check it out for yourself above.
The Boys seasons 1-3, and its spin-off Gen V, are available to watch in full on Prime Video.
![The Boys season 1 [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622816412-514ttJQYciL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "The Boys season 1 [DVD]")
![The Boys season 02 [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622816977-51OM9Coe2LS._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "The Boys season 02 [DVD]")
Dynamite Entertainment The Boys Omnibus Vol. 1 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Funko Pop! The Boys - Homelander levitating Funko Pop! figurine
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
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