Just when it felt like fans of The Boys knew where the series was going, the show took a very sharp turn in the opposite direction. While the twist at the end of episode 7 of the Amazon Prime Video series was a good one, the man in charge of the show's direction has revealed that twist wasn't always in the cards.
Since the first episode of this season, The Boys has been planning a showdown between Soldier Boy and Homelander. At the same time, there's been a lot of whispers and innuendo as to why Soldier Boy was taken off the board back in the early 1980s. In the penultimate episode of the season, it was finally divulged just why the Jensen Ackles character was captured and handed over to the Russians. Once the rationale behind that move was divulged, it led to a rather massive twist that is almost certainly going to change the way things play out in the season finale.
In a new interview with Variety, Eric Kripke revealed that the massive shift wasn't always in the cards but things changed when the showrunners and writers started to really look at the theme of the season. Eventually, when they realized that the season is all about fathers and sons, they decided to make the big reveal of the season be that Homelander is in fact, the son of Soldier Boy. Kripke went on to talk about the running theme of The Boys and how the focus on fathers and sons has been running throughout the show, not just the season.
"We talk about Hughie and his dad, Butcher and his dad, Butcher and his son, Homelander and his son," the famed showrunner explained. He went on to say that as the writers were talking about the mythology of the show, someone in the room said they had a "crazy pitch" but wanted to see what other people thought about the idea. It turns out that Kripke liked the twist mainly because he liked that basically, all the other characters were dealing with issues with their parents, or issues with parenting.
Kripke said that the writers wanted Homelander to have to deal with his father, especially because he spent quite a bit of the first few seasons going after his own son. That's why Soldier Boy's phone call towards the end of The Boys episode 7 goes one step further when it comes to the reveal. Soldier Boy also tells his son that if he had known that he was the product of a genetic experiment and hadn't been captured by the Russians, then he would have been there for his son.
That particular reveal likely means that the plan to kill Homelander is off the table. Of course, it's possible that Jensen's Ackles' character has got one more twist in him.
The Boys season 3 is available now on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Variety