‘The Boys’ Showrunner Reveals How the Finale With Ryan Sets up Storyline for Season 4
The Boys season 3 wrapped up with its finale on Friday and there are many ways the show is setting up for season 4. One of the major factors going forward is Ryan (Cameron Crovetti), Homelander’s (Anthony Starr) son who Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) had been trying to keep away from his villainous dad. The showrunner for The Boys, Eric Kripke, says this plot will be an important part of the storyline for season 4.
Ryan goes with Homelander during the finale of season 3 of ‘The Boys’
In the season 3 finale of The Boys, there is an epic showdown between Homelander, Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), Butcher, and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). Butcher teamed up with Soldier Boy throughout the season to take down Homelander. However, Butcher turns on him after Soldier Boy injures Ryan. Still, Ryan does not forgive Butcher after he said horrible things to him and he goes with Homelander, a turnaround from what happened at the end of season 2.
Later, Homelander attends a rally where he introduces his fans to Ryan. When a protestor throws something at Ryan, Homelander blasts the protestor and kills him in front of everyone. Instead of condemning his actions, the crowd applauds Homelander and even Ryan cracks a smile. Not only does this have dangerous implications for season 4 of The Boys for Homelander, but it’s also troubling to see Ryan enjoying his dad’s sadistic behavior.
‘The Boys’ showrunner says Ryan will be a major part of season 4
After the disturbing revelations with Ryan, Kripke says that he will be a major factor moving forward. In an interview with Collider, Kripke shared that the battle for Ryan’s soul will be a central conflict between Butcher and Homelander.
“Moving forward, Ryan is a really important part of it,” Kripke said. “Both Butcher and Homelander have very good reasons to fight over Ryan because the stakes could not be higher. If Ryan goes Homelander’s way and then there’s two Homelanders in the world, then that’s a nightmare for the planet. If Butcher can get Ryan into the light, then that’s probably actually the best weapon they have against Homelander. It’s always been a show about family, and so much of Season 3 was about fathers, so I think it makes sense that Season 4 is about sons.”
Another important plot point for season 4 of The Boys is that Butcher is now dying due to complications from taking the temporary compound V. With limited time left, Butcher will be more determined to take down superheroes and save Ryan before his time is up.
“That guy has a very, very driven set of goals that on his best day he was obsessed with, to an incredibly unhealthy degree,” Kripke explained. “Now that he feels that his time is running out, and he might only have one more swing at this, my guess is that pushes him so far further down the road toward immorality because he’s feeling his mortality. For a character like that, that’s really dangerous.”
When is season 4 coming out?
Season 4 of The Boys has been given the green light by Amazon but no release date has been confirmed. Urban did recently share that season 4 will begin shooting by the end of August and could be headed for a 2023 release. After that finale, season 4 of The Boys can’t come soon enough.
All three seasons of The Boys are streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
