“The Boys” are back. The R-rated superhero series returns to Prime Video for Season 5 this Thursday, June 13th. To stream the series and the latest episodes, you’ll need to sign up for a Prime Video account, which is currently offering a 30-day free trial.
Season 4 of the Emmy Award-winning show debuted with three episodes on Thursday night and will air in weekly installments until the season finale on July 18th.
Per the official description for the new season: “In Season Four, the world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.”
The new season also introduces new superheroes Sister Sage (Susan Hayward) and Firecracker (Valorie Curry) as well as new CIA agent Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as the battle for the soul of Homelander’s son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) continues. Meanwhile, Annie (Erin Morarity) distances herself from her Starlight identity, and Hughie (Jack Quaid) repairs his relationship with the dying Butcher as he attempts to assassinate Newman before the inauguration (on the orders of President-elect Singer).
Ahead of season 4, showrunner Erik Kripke announced this week that the series will end with season 5. The news isn’t necessarily a surprise to die-hard fans, as Kripke previously said he wanted at least five seasons to tell the story.
“The Boys” has also spawned several spinoff projects at Amazon, including the animated anthology “The Boys Presents: Diabolical” and the live-action superhero college series “Generation V,” which has a second season in the works, as well as two other series. There are other projects currently in development, one set in Mexico and another just announced by Kripke.
In her review of the final season, Variety show critic Allison Herman wrote that the series “suffers growing pains in its darkest season yet.”
“While the show began primarily as a parody of oppressively dominant superhero franchised, it’s become an indictment of an overlapping series of systems and the noxious ideology that underlies them,” she writes. “Season 4 starts to show the strain of that effort, both on the viewer’s tolerance for despair and the series itself.”