The Boys Season 4: Release date, cast, plot, all you need to know

The Boys Season 4 was renewed in June a little after the fourth episode of Season 3 was released on Amazon Prime. At the time, showrunner Eric Kripke said “Speaking for the cast and crew, we’re so grateful to Sony, Amazon, and most of all the fans for embracing the show and allowing us to make more”, adding, “We’re thrilled to continue Butcher and the Boys’ fight against Homelander and The Seven, as well as comment on the insane world we’re living in. Also, this is the first time in history that exploding genitalia has led to further success.” 

The show is based on the comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson and is a refreshingly satirical take on how superheroes can be far from the perfect idols society makes them out to be. 

In a world dominated by Marvel and other superhero content, The Boys turns the lens onto the genre, with generous dollops of gore and action, and not to forget Karl Urban’s cockney accent. 

Ahead of The Boys Season 4 release, here’s all you need to know about the Prime series. 

The Boys Season 4 release date: 

While no official date has been set yet, going by previous seasons, one batch of episodes can be expected in 2023. 

Filming began in August 2022, and Anthony Starr – who plays Homeland on The Boys – shared a post about how far the series has come. 

The Boys Season 4 plot: 

Season 3 ended with Victoria Neuman, Claudia Doumit’s character, under Homelander’s thumb, as she’s selected to become Vice President. Neuman has superpowers too and was earlier under the protection of Vought CEO Stan Edgar. 

Speaking to Deadline, Kripke explained Neuman’s place in the show’s story, saying “One of the endgame storylines in the books that we always really responded to was this notion that the Vice President was literally gunning for the President and that the President was in mortal danger. That if the Vice President were to take over, they would [to] all intents and purposes be a Vought plant, which was sort of that lore between Dakota Bob and Neuman in the comics.”

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He added, “We’ve been moving our chess pieces in place to play a version of that story because that does feel like the highest possible stakes, especially with Homelander becoming more and more untethered from reality”.

While the titular boys try to take Neuman down, Butcher and Hughie have to deal with the aftermath of taking the temporary Compound V, while Mother’s Milk tries to express who he is to his family, in an attempt to maintain a connection with his daughter. Frenchie and Kimiko are likely to continue their bond and try and assert their freedom, while Sergeant Grace Mallory has Soldier Boy in her facility, and will likely have her hands full with Jensen Ackles’ character. 

Starlight also walks a new path, abandoning her role at Vought and joining the fight alongside Hughie, her boyfriend. 

Another conflict that’s likely to arise is over Ryan. He’s Homelander’s son, born after the superhero raped Becca, Butcher’s wife. Ryan’s discovering his powers and has chosen Homelander as his father figure, for now, no thanks to Butcher’s hurtful words which were uttered in an attempt to keep Becca’s child safe. 

Kripke told Metacritic in an interview “A lot of the story of certainly the next season is both Homelander and Butcher fighting over Ryan. It becomes like a custody battle with apocalyptic stakes. Will Ryan go into the light or will Ryan go into the shadows?”, adding, “In so many ways, season three was about fathers, and so, there’s quite a few stories in season four that are about sons.” 

However, he’s assured that Homelander will die at some point, though it remains to be seen if this happens in Season 4. “There’s no way the series ends without Homelander dying. I’m just not comfortable with keeping that guy alive in the universe. We have to do something!”. 

The Boys Season 4 cast: 

All the main characters including Jack Quaid and Antony Starr will return. Urban will be back as Billy Butcher with his generous use of the c-word too. Also returning are Karen Fukuhara, Laz Alonso, Erin Moriarty, Tomer Capone, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Chace Crawford, and Nathan Mitchell. 

Colby Minifie, Laila Robins, Giancarlo Esposito, Jim Beaver, and Claudia Doumit are expected to return as well. 

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Mitchell’s character, Black Noir, died in Season 3 but Kripke teased a return, saying “It’s definitely not the last we’ve seen of Black Noir as a hero. It’s just that the guy who was inside [the Noir suit] in season 3, he’s gone. But we have Nathan playing a really interesting and hilarious character who wears the suit next season”, as per Entertainment Weekly. 

Jeffrey Dean Morgan has also been announced as the latest to join the cast, but his role is being kept under wraps. Valorie Curry and Susan Heyward have already joined the cast as Firecracker and Sister Sage, two new superheroes. 

While it remains unknown whether Jensen Ackles will be back as Soldier Boy, Kripke has left the door open for the return, and the actor also sent fans in a tizzy by replying via an Instagram comment about The Boys Season 4 “Pour me a double… I’m on my way”.