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The Boys season 5 is the bullet America didn't dodge, says showrunner Eric Kripke

Eric Kripke and The Boys writers room wrote the final season of the authoritarian allegory before Donald Trump won re-election in 2024. Now, says the showrunner, their script has become a reality

Like so many entertainers of his day, Eric Kripke didn't want to predict the future. But as he explained in a recent interview, that's exactly what he and the rest of the team behind The Boys season 5 did. Having written the fifth and final season of the politically-relevant superhero satire before the re-election of Donald Trump in 2024, Kripke & Co. hoped they'd be writing a story that was set in a reality further from the one we're living in.

And now, Kripke's reflecting on how that hope failed.

The interview in question is one Kripke did with TV Guide, which was posted to their social media on April 1. In the discussion, interviewer Kat Moon asked Kripke and stars Karl Urban and Laz Alonso whether the reality of America's political situation ever affected the writing of Prime's hit show.

"I'm totally bummed out to say," Kripke responded, "That we write it before the election. It sounds super naive now, but I swear the plan was, 'Let’s write a 1984 version of what creeping authoritarianism looks like in America,' and maybe everyone will be like, 'Whew, we really dodged a bullet.' But instead, we got hit with the bullet… And a lot of things that were far-fetched for us, we’re like — 'That’s crazy!' — have come to pass in a way that’s really really fucking troubling."

Troubling, in this writer's opinion, is putting it mildly, Eric.

The Boys season 5 begins on Prime Video April 8. 

Watch The Boys season 5 panel with Karl Urban and Laz Alonso from Seattle's ECCC 2026 here:


Grant DeArmitt

Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.

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