Oi. Weeks before its season four premiere, The Boys announced that its fifth season was greenlit in advance. However, showrunner Eric Kripke expressed his belief that the show could last longer than even that. While many fans are excited, many more are suspicious of the show’s ability to make a story last as long.
In showbusiness, it seems that executives are always at odds with writers as shows are either cut off before their proper end or dragged on until they run out. The Boys finds itself caught between both of these. Here is a rundown of the show’s current state and its possible future.
The Success of The Boys
In an interview with Inverse, Eric Kripke discussed the idea of The Boys lasting longer than the planned five seasons. During the interview, he called himself “the most wrong in entertainment history of how many seasons their show should go.” For reference, he said he originally planned for his previous series, Supernatural, to last for five seasons only to go to fifteen. Whether or not his latest work can last that long will have to be seen.
Amazon Prime’s The Boys is currently one of the most critically acclaimed shows on streaming. Released mere months after Avengers: Endgame, the show was praised for satirizing modern superhero films alongside American culture and politics. Additionally, the show is seen as a considerable step up from Garth Ennis’ original comic, derided as gratuitously edgy and over reliant on shock over substance.
Seasonal Rot
When a show lasts too long, “seasonal rot” is inevitable. Many long-running shows, such as The Simpsons, have gone on well past their due date. As for episodic shows with overarching plots, the results are disastrous. The most infamous is the once-acclaimed Game of Thrones, which muddled virtually every central plot and character and became one of the worst finales in television.
As an adaptation, The Boys has long since moved past its source material and told a unique story, meaning it could go in any direction. One “criticism” lobbied towards the show is the irony of how it became precisely what it ridiculed: an interconnected universe of iconic characters made by a giant corporation. Gen V shows that Amazon is perfectly willing to branch the series out.
Can The Boys Last Beyond Five Seasons?
While Amazon’s certainly earned its reputation as a postmodern superhero classic, several cracks started to form in the previous season. One common criticism is the show’s lack of progression, with season three ending with the titular team as a group of underdogs with Homelander and Vought at the top, along with very few significant character deaths. Additionally, characters like Kimiko stagnate in their arcs, with little change in their material conditions.
Furthermore, without getting into spoilers, a central character was put “on a timer,” so to speak, meaning the show will need to pick up its pace. It is obvious that the show was written with an ending in mind, and trying to have the show last beyond its shelf life will inevitably push the show into a predictable disaster. Hopefully, through good writing, the show won’t end with a “fall-off that needs to be studied.”
About the Author
Edward Fargis is a seasoned writer from across the web and an aspiring author. He mostly writes about the latest video games, movies, anime, and TV. His work can be found on Total Apex Gaming, Total Apex Entertainment, Strangely Awesome Games, Dead Talk News, Siliconera, and Comic Book Resource.
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