Be warned if you haven’t yet watched The Boys’ series finale streaming via Amazon Prime subscription!
Some of television’s most deplorable characters and pungent personalities are no longer with us, now that The Boys’ series finale has come and gone in all its bloody glory. (Check out what we had to say about the gross-out episode.) The ep was surprisingly free from any noteworthy Soldier Boy appearances, which creator Eric Kripke said was a purposeful move to keep the final installment focused on the mains, with Jensen Ackles’ Vought Rising spinoff having previously enjoyed some narrative set ups.
Given that the spinoff will be a prequel focusing on the rise of Supes in the 1950s, as well as Soldier Boy’s sordid relationship with Aya Cash’s Stormfront, does that mean we’ll never find out what happens to Soldier Boy’s cryosleep-induced body after Stan Edgar returned as the CEO of Vought? I hope that’s not the case, as I think it would be interesting and valuable to know what a Homelander-free version of the company would do with one of its OG enforcers.
Having delivered a finale he was proud of, Eric Kripke isn’t exactly oozing spoilers for the impending series, which isn’t set to debut until after the 2026 TV schedule has wrapped. But this is a case where his lack of an answer speaks more volumes than any other kind of answer. The creator (who is an executive producer on the spinoff) was asked by Deadline if Vought Rising will take place across multiple timelines, and here’s how Kripke responded:
No comment.
Eric Kripke
There's no real way to come away from that answer thinking, "It probably won't feature multiple timelines and will consistently remain set in the 1950s no matter how many seasons it gets." If he's unable to talk about it, that means it's almost definitely happening. But in what capacity?
Obviously, my biggest hope here is for Vought Rising to provide some follow-up insight on what went down inside The Tower after Homelander's shame-inducing death, and whether or not Soldier Boy's holding tank was put back into clandestine hiding, only to be unearthed the next time a potentially catastrophic Supe attempts to usurp mankind. (I'd also like to know who had to clean up Homelander's corpse, and whether or not his body was also put into a cryo tank for DNA-saving purposes.
While not confirming or denying the timeline question, Kripke did tease the new show's ability to surprise viewers, aying:
I mean, I don’t think the finale episode itself sets up Vought Rising. I think what we saw of Soldier Boy and meeting Bombsight and some references to some of the other original Supes, is about the only setup we’re doing. But how’s this for a vague tease; I will say that, we have a few surprises and tricks up our sleeve in V Rising.
Eric Kripke
Though The Boys is obviously where fans first met Soldier Boy, Stormfront, and Bombsight, the comic book adaptation wasn't meant to make setting up the sequel a major part of its storytelling, so fans will have to wait and see what kind of debauchery showrunner Paul Grellong has in store. I doubt it'll have the same kinds of Supernatural references that played out in Season 5, as well as the gore-filled reunions, but hopefully other vets from that world will share space with Ackles anew one day.
Check out the first promo for Vought Rising that was released in the days after The Boys' series finale dropped.
Maybe in the next trailer, we'll get a flash-forward to the present, where we learn that Soldier Boy's cryo-tank is being used as a coffee table for Starlight and Hughie, or that it's been set up in a public space for citizens to mock and judge accordingly. Not that I think SB would take any amount of backtalk lightly, even in his sleep.
With no date set yet for when we might see Vought Rising on the small screen, we're also waiting to hear more about the Mexico-set spinoff that went into development a couple of years ago.
