SPOILERS: This post contains details about The Boys, Season 5 episode ‘Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite’
With The Boys plummeting faster than a speeding bullet to its finale, Eric Kripke has quickly made it clear that nobody is invincible.
The creator and showrunner of the Prime Video series explained to Deadline why the writers chose to kill off Jesse T. Usher’s A-Train in the Season 5 premiere ‘Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite’, which is now available to stream along with episode 2 on Prime Video.
“I think we knew that, unfortunately, A-Train was going to be first on the hit list, because I think the three people Homelander [Antony Starr] hates the most are Butcher, Starlight and A-Train, and I just didn’t think we would be able to kill Butcher and Starlight in the first episode,” he noted. “So unfortunately, it fell on A-Train, and so, originally we were talking about it happening in episode three, but the writers really successfully campaigned to say, ‘You know, you keep saying no one is safe. You gotta put your money where your mouth is, you have to drop someone major in the first episode, so that everyone knows that. You do that and then the audience is gonna truly think that nobody’s safe.’”
Watch on Deadline
Kripke added, “It was a really hard call … Not giving any spoilers away, that was not the only one of those calls I had to make this season, and they were hard every time.”
Meanwhile, with the country living in terror under Homelander’s reign, Kripke previously noted that the real-world political parallels in Season 5 are coincidental, as the concluding episodes were written before the 2024 election. And despite the Trump administration’s attacks on the media, he’s not concerned about offending anyone in the White House.
“I’d be genuinely stunned if anyone in any real position of power is paying attention to this show. So, no,” said Kripke. “And I mean, look, I love this country. I am a staunch believer in the First Amendment, and as of today, I still have the right to say what I want to say, and I take that really seriously. So, I’m not overly concerned.”
With new episodes of The Boys available to stream Wednesdays on Prime Video, read on about what Eric Kripke has in store for the fifth and final season, as well as what’s happening with The Boys: Mexico.
DEADLINE: I really appreciated A-Train’s redemption story in the first episode. Can you tell me a little bit about that decision to kill him off in the first episode?
ERIC KRIPKE: I think we knew that, unfortunately, A-Train was going to be first on the hit list, because I think the three people Homelander hates the most are Butcher, Starlight and A-Train, and I just didn’t think we would be able to kill Butcher and Starlight in the first episode. So unfortunately, it fell on A-Train, and so, originally we were talking about it happening in episode three, but the writers really successfully campaigned to say, “You know, you keep saying no one is safe. You gotta put your money where your mouth is, you have to drop someone major in the first episode, so that everyone knows that. You do that and then the audience is gonna truly think that nobody’s safe.” And they were right, and so we took a couple of story beats that we knew we wanted to wrap out A-Train’s story, which is like a true reconciliation with his brother, and really delving into this story about a guy who since the end of season four, has been running, running scared, and decides to finally stop running and face the thing that he was so scared of. And then by doing som realized he’s not particularly scary at all. He’s actually pathetic. And so it was just mostly about making the room in episode one so that we could get all of that information in, but it’s hard. It was a really hard call, to call Jesse and say, “Hey man, don’t lease an apartment this season.” Because you really come to love everyone so much as family, and saying goodbye to them and telling them that their role is over, is hard. Not giving any spoilers away, that was not the only one of those calls I had to make this season, and they were hard every time.
DEADLINE: I’ll bet. Tell me about the friction between Annie and Hughie when she saves him, and how is that gonna play out this season?
KRIPKE: I think Annie’s had a really hard year, and she’s running pretty low on hope. And even if she’s gonna keep trying to win the war and definitely go down swinging if she has to, she does not foresee a happy ending for herself. Whereas I think Hughie wants to have a future and a happy ending with Annie. So, I think Annie, thinking that there’s really no way out of this alive, I think forces her to be more cynical, and to be a little less moral, and in effect, that puts her more in Butcher’s camp. And as it moves forward, a lot of the season sort of becomes Hughie and Butcher as these two poles on either side of The Boys, and is Butcher gonna drag everyone into the shadows, or can Hughie drag them into the light? And Annie is definitely, as the season begins, much more on Butcher’s wavelength than she is Hughie’s, which Hughie finds really upsetting.
DEADLINE: It’s crazy that this was written before Trump was re-elected, and I was curious with all of these political parallels—you know, the first episode alone had them canceling DEI and then the Freedom Camp—do you anticipate more blowback than previous seasons, just given this administration’s attacks on media?
KRIPKE: Not really, I mean, I’d be genuinely stunned if anyone in any real position of power is paying attention to this show. So, no. And I mean, look, I love this country. I am a staunch believer in the First Amendment, and as of today, I still have the right to say what I want to say, and I take that really seriously. So, I’m not overly concerned.
DEADLINE: Good. ‘Cause without the First Amendment, we wouldn’t have a guy getting strangled to death with his own dick, for example, right?
KRIPKE: For example, right? We should play ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ when that happens.
DEADLINE: Another development that I loved this season is that Kimiko can talk now, and the fact that she has no filter, which is fun. How did that decision come about to give her more of a voice?
KRIPKE: I think it was time. We had her say her first word at the end of last season, so it felt like we would have been spinning our wheels if we brought that back and had her be mute throughout the season. It felt like she’s been evolving in terms of letting go of the trauma that caused her mutism in the first place. And she’s been working so hard to deal with it, that it felt right to then take her to the next step, which is she does get her physical voice back. She’s always had a voice. In terms of how it sounded and how to write her, it took a minute to figure it out actually. Because it’s hard when you you’ve known a character in a particular way for four seasons, and then suddenly it’s like, “OK, well, what’s her word choice going to be? And how funny is she?” And we tried different things at first. And then we just sort of landed on, it’s obvious now, but it just took us a minute to find it of, “Well, in previous seasons, how did Kimiko make the audience feel? If they could describe her, they would say, really sweet, really violent. And very no bullshit.” And all right, well then that’s who Kimiko has to be, right? She has to be the same person. And kudos to Karen. I mean, that is a hard thing to pull off. That’s a major change in her character, and the fact that there’s a continuity of character while evolving and expanding who she is, is a lot of credit to Karen’s ability as an actress.
DEADLINE: Yeah, she’s hilarious. I think that’s gonna be fun to watch throughout the season. Also, there are just so many pop culture references in here that made me laugh, like the fact that they arrested Chappel Roan and Tyler the Creator.
KRIPKE: And they canceled Coachella, yeah.
DEADLINE: And also the Chris Hayes cameo caught me off guard. That was funny.
KRIPKE: Yeah, so the writer Paul Grellong and Chris were college buddies. So, he called Chris. Actually, Paul and I, the first time we worked together was on Revolution all the way back [in 2012-’14], and Chris Hayes did a cameo there too. We love just pulling in Chris Hayes when we have an in with him.
DEADLINE: That’s awesome. If you got it in your back pocket, why not? And another mention that I’m really curious about, Annie said Marie is off with her team in Pittsburgh, taking care of stuff. Are we gonna see more of her later in the season?
KRIPKE: Yes, some of the Gen V kids, for sure, show up, more towards the end run. We definitely check in on what they’ve been up to and what they’re doing now.
DEADLINE: Well, I’m excited to see that, especially with Season 2 of Gen V, I’m really rooting for Marie to kick Homelander’s ass. But, also I know it’s gonna be cool to see that Supernatural reunion? What was it like getting those guys back together?
KRIPKE: It was great. It was like going home and hanging out with your old friends again. You pick up right where you left off, everyone’s laughing and joking. And it was really just good for the soul, cause we’re all looking at each other, and not just the three actors and me, but Phil Sgriccia, the producing director on The Boys, who was a director and producer on Supernatural from the very beginning, from episode one. And we’re all just kind of looking at each other like, “Look at all the money this production has. It’s so fancy and expensive, and we used to have to do this really bare bones. Look at us, can you believe we’re getting away with this?” And so, that was really fun to go through that experience with those guys. But it was good, it’s just like seeing old friends.
DEADLINE: That’s awesome. I’m looking forward to that. I’m also looking forward to another season of Gen V as well as Vought Rising. Can you tell me about the status of The Boys: Mexico or if Diabolical is officially over?
KRIPKE: I haven’t heard any noises about Diabolical in a while. And The Boys: Mexico, we just delivered a draft of the script to Amazon. We had a notes call, they seemed to really love it. Gareth [Dunnet-Alcocer], the writer who’s super smart and is incorporating their round of note. But it feels like it’s heading in the right direction. Right now, it’s just in sort of that development phase of just getting the book right, but they seem to be liking it. And I think it’s very funny and unique. It passes the test that we try to have of these spin-offs, which is, it’s just completely unlike any of the other shows or The Boys, and it has such a specific point of view, of society in Latin America versus North America. I think it’s a really interesting, funny, weird piece. I like it a lot.