The fourth season of the American satirical superhero television series The Boys, the first series in the franchise based on the comic book series of the same name written by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, was developed for television by American writer and television producer Eric Kripke. The season is produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios in association with Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, Kripke Enterprises, Kickstart Entertainment, and KFL Nightsky Productions.
The show's fourth season stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and Cameron Crovetti returning from prior seasons, with Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan joining the cast. Taking place six months after the events of the previous season, the Boys work with the CIA to assassinate Victoria Neuman in an effort to stop her from taking over the government. Concurrently, Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the control thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. With only months to live, Butcher has lost his position as leader of the Boys, who are fed up with his lies, and must find a way to work with them if they want to save the world before it's too late. The season shares continuity with the spin-off series Gen V and is set after the conclusion of its first season.Multiple sources:
The season premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on June 13, 2024, with its first three episodes. The remaining five episodes were released weekly until July 18, 2024. The season received positive reviews with praise towards its action sequences, character development, emotional depth, storyline, blend of political commentary and surrealism, unique combination of violence, humor and social commentary, and performances (particularly Urban, Quaid, Starr, and Moriarty), lauding its bold approach to tackling complex themes and pushing narrative boundaries.Multiple sources:
However, multiple critics and publications have considered it the darkest and most polarizing season.Multiple sources:
On May 14, 2024, the series was renewed for a fifth season. On June 11, two days before the fourth season premiered, Kripke announced that the fifth season would serve as the final season.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main Karl Urban as William "Billy" Butcher Jack Quaid as Hugh "Hughie" Campbell Jr. Antony Starr as John Gillman / Homelander Erin Moriarty as Annie January / Starlight Moriarty also plays a variation of the Shapeshifter Supe Jessie T. Usher as Reggie Franklin / A-Train Laz Alonso as Marvin T. "Mother's" Milk / M.M. Chace Crawford as Kevin Kohler / The Deep Tomer Capone as Serge / Frenchie Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro / The Female Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir II Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett Claudia Doumit as Nadia Khayat / Victoria Neuman Cameron Crovetti as Ryan Butcher Susan Heyward as Jessica "Sage" Bradley / Sister Sage Valorie Curry as Misty Tucker Gray / Firecracker Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Joe Kessler
Recurring Laila Robins as Grace Mallory Simon Pegg as Hugh Campbell Sr. Rosemarie DeWitt as Daphne Campbell Derek Wilson as Robert Vernon / Tek Knight Jim Beaver as Robert "Dakota Bob" Singer Matthew Edison as Cameron Coleman Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher Will Ferrell as himself portraying Coach Brink Tilda Swinton as Ambrosius (voice) Christian Keyes as Nathan Franklin Maddie Phillips as Cate Dunlap Asa Germann as Sam Riordan Elliot Knight as Colin Hauser David Reale as Evan Lambert Erika Prevost as Tala Frances Turner as Monique P. J. Byrne as Adam Bourke Kimberly-Sue Murray as Kiara Sabrina Saudin as Also Ashley Dan Mousseau as Webweaver Olivia Morandin as Zoe Neuman Omid Abtahi as Dr. Sameer Shah David Andrews as Senator Calhoun
Guest Giancarlo Esposito as Stan Edgar Matthew Gorman as Todd Ana Sani as Anika Jordana Lajoie as Cherie Rob Benedict as Splinter Malcolm Barrett as Seth Reed Katia Winter as Little Nina Shaun Benson as Ezekiel Murray Furrow as Marty Mark Cowling as Frank Nancy Lenehan as Barbara Liyou Abere as Janine Tyrone Benskin as Elijah Ann Cusack as Donna January Ess Hödlmoser as Cindy Derek Johns as Love Sausage Jensen Ackles as Ben / Soldier Boy
Cameos In the season premiere, "Department of Dirty Tricks", Rafia Iqbal, Zach McGowan and Jasper Morris appear in separate photographs as Hyperion, Dogknott and Wrangler, respectively, during Ashley's presentation of twenty-five Supes who would be potential candidates for the Seven. Shoshana Bean, James Monroe Iglehart, and Andrew Rannells provide the singing voices of the uncredited figure skaters portraying Queen Maeve, Jesus, and Homelander, respectively, during the "Let's Put the Christ Back in Christmas" rehearsal musical sequence in the third episode.
Production Development On June 10, 2022, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a fourth season. According to showrunner Eric Kripke, figuring out a way to save Ryan's soul is a key priority for Butcher in the fourth season, with Kripke saying it's like Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) combined with Avengers: Endgame (2019). On December 4, 2023, Kripke hinted that a scene from the fourth season might include "the batshit craziest thing" ever filmed for the series and expressed his own surprise that he "got away with it". He also teased how each episode this season would play out, saying: "I think every episode has at least one totally fucking bananas moment. I love the ones in episode five. Episode six makes me cover my mouth with my hands every time I watch it. So, I think there's lots of good stuff going on."
Writing Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Kripke described the inspirations of Valorie Curry's character, Misty Tucker Gray / Firecracker, saying: "I think it's like [politicians] Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert. When we were writing her, [South Dakota Governor] Kristi Noem wasn't in our heads, but then she comes out and she's shooting puppies and then it's like, 'There's Firecracker! She's literally shooting puppies! Kripke also spoke with Variety about the development of the character, saying: "Firecracker came from like, 'Hey, isn't Marjorie Taylor Greene scary?' And just that type of personality. Like, you had [Donald] Trump, but now you have these Trump spawn that are trying to outdo each other for how outrageous and sexualized and gun-toting and slavishly obedient they can be. And just that idea — it wouldn't just start and end with Homelander, he would start to create these spores that would grow into these other characters, and she's a version of that."
Kripke also revealed that Susan Heyward's character, Jessica "Sage" Bradley / Sister Sage, was conceived out of a conversation about one of Homelander's big weaknesses, saying: "He's generally surrounded by idiots. And so if we gave him someone truly brilliant, that makes him much more formidable. It turns out that that's a really hard character to write! Because you have to write things that the smartest person in the world would think of and we're not the smartest people in the world, so that's really difficult. And then Sage became a really interesting character, so that's really difficult." Setting up the series' endgame, Kripke commented on the season finale's impact, saying: "There's a sort of seismic change at the end of season four; nothing in the world is going to be the same." The season finale is dedicated to Larry Kripke, father of Eric Kripke, who died on February 13, 2024.
Casting
On July 8, 2022, it was revealed Nathan Mitchell (who portrayed the masked Black Noir in the first three seasons), despite his character's death in the third season finale, would continue to portray Black Noir, but as a new entity of the character (Black Noir II) in a main capacity of the fourth season. On August 1, it was revealed that Cameron Crovetti had been promoted as a series regular, while Curry and Heyward were cast as new series regulars for the fourth season. On August 25, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was cast as a recurring guest star for the fourth season. On December 1, Rob Benedict and Elliot Knight joined the cast in undisclosed capacities for the fourth season, alongside Rosemarie DeWitt who was revealed to play Hughie's mother, Daphne. After the three-episode premiere, it was revealed that Benedict and Knight were portraying Splinter and Colin, respectively.
On May 3, 2024, the official trailer revealed Maddie Phillips and Asa Germann would appear in the fourth season, reprising their roles from Gen V as Cate Dunlap and Sam Riordan, respectively. Derek Wilson also reprised his role as Robert Vernon / Tek Knight from Gen V.
Dan Mousseau portrayed Webweaver / Patrick Whitehall, a drug-addicted Supe and parody of Spider-Man, in two episodes. A first-look image of the character was shared during the fictional V52 Expo, a convention put on by Vought that parodies Disney's D23 Expo.
Filming
Filming on the fourth season commenced on August 22, 2022. The fight scene in the Flatiron Building, featured in the episode "The Insider", took ten days to film. Elaborating on the filming process, director Catriona McKenzie explained: "Every day there was a fight, every day ... [Stunt coordinator and actor John] Koyama was the stunt coordinator on that — he's amazing. Working with him and adjusting those fights, that was ten days on one scene — that's a movie. Ten days is one episode. It was really big. Often in an episode, you get your coupons for VFX. Like, 'Oh, you've got two and a half coupons, and you've got maybe three coupons for the big stunt work or VFX work or however you want to spend those resources'."
Pegg concluded filming his scenes on January 18, 2023. Filming on the finale began on February 12, with Starr concluding filming his scenes on April 4. Filming on the fourth season officially wrapped on April 12, 2023.
Visual effects The companies that were in charge of creating the visual effects for the season were ILM, MPC, Untold Studios, DNEG, Spin VFX, Luma Pictures, Pixomondo, Soho VFX, Zoic Studios, Rocket Science VFX, Crafty Apes VFX, Ingenuity Studios, Splice, Incessant Rain Studios, and CNCPT. For the fourth consecutive season, Stephan Fleet served as the visual effects supervisor while Sean Tompkins came on board as the visual effects producer. Fleet described Tompkins being "more like a VFX managerial partner", adding: "While I focused on the creative side, [Sean] handled finance and scheduling. We're a managerial dream team. Everything overlaps, and communication, kindness, listening, discussing, and attacking based on group thought and experience are the keys."