Gen V season 2 ending explained: Eric Kripke breaks down how it sets up The Boys season 5

*Warning - contains full spoilers for all eight episodes of Gen V season 2*

The second season of Gen V has now come to an explosive end - particularly for one, ill-fated character.

The final episode of the spin-off show saw Marie and her friends taking on a newly revived Thomas Godolkin, and also ended with some major hints towards the fifth and final season of The Boys.

But just how did it all come to an end and how does this factor into the wider universe? Executive producer Eric Kripke and Godolkin star Ethan Slater were on to hand to explain it all to us exclusively.

Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of Gen V season 2.

Gen V season 2 finale: What happened with Thomas Godolkin?

After last week's episode revealed that Cipher was in fact just a normal man, Doug, who for years had been puppeteered by Thomas Godolkin, the latter found himself revived, thanks to Marie.

Sister Sage, who Godolkin was having a relationship with, had been behind the plan that led to his revival. As they continued their relationship she suggested he move into Vought Tower with her, but made clear that she would reveal his revival to Homelander carefully.

What she didn't plan was that he would announce his return first in a broadcast to the world, and particularly the students of God U. He announced that the student rankings would be reset to zero and that he would open a seminar to everyone to determine them in future.

Meanwhile, Marie healed Cate and fixed her powers, before broadcasting on social media to tell the students not to attend.

However, many didn't listen and, once they arrived, they soon found it was a bloodbath, with Godolkin taking on the students by puppeteering their bodies, maiming and killing them.

He told Sage he was trying to advance his own abilities, in order to control Marie. If he was strong enough to control one of Odessa's subjects, he could control the other – Homelander.

He said that the Seven was made up of 'novelty act' members like The Deep and Firecracker because Homelander was too weak to have any real strength or competition surrounding him. He intended to take control, rather than following Sage's unexplained plan for 'phase 2', which involved Homelander.

Explaining Godolkin's thoughts on Homelander, Ethan Slater told RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview: "I think that he sees Homelander as somebody who's gotten out of control. It's like that eugenics thing, right? He wants to create the people who are the Supes, the specific group of people who are in control.

"But he needs to be the one who is the puppeteer. He started this thing, in a lot of ways. He was one of the people who started this whole thing, and he can't cede control.

"And so with Homelander, who is, up to this point, Odessa's shining star, taking his own agency and taking agency away from Thomas Godolkin, he just needs to replace him. The kingmaker has to make the king and I think that's who Thomas Godolkin can sees himself as, as the kingmaker."

Meanwhile, Polarity took Doug to get him seen to by a medic. However they were stopped by Black Noir, who killed Doug and kidnapped Polarity, on behalf of Sage.

After he had been questioned by Sage, he realised the door to his cell had been left open.

Marie attended one of Godolkin's seminars, and as she was attacked by the other students under his control, she revealed her plan - the rest of her friends including Emma, Sam, Jordan, Ally, Harper and Greg had been smuggled in in Black Hole's butt vortex (a sentence you could only imagine when writing about The Boys universe...).

Harper managed to control and subdue Godolkin for long enough that they could get the other students out and bring Cate and Annabeth in.

Just as it seemed they'd won, Godolkin took control of Marie, using her powers to attack the rest of them. As they lay dying, Polarity entered at the last moment, breaking Godolkin's control and attacking him – at which point Marie used her powers to explode him, saying: "That was for Andre."

Speaking about his character's death, Slater said: "My first reaction was, I get the best entrance into this season, and then the best exit. I watch people explode, tentacles come out of the ass, face melts, on fire, just gore everywhere, exactly what people love and/or shy away from while watching The Boys.

"And then I get to end it with being exploded. So it felt really perfect. I mean, that fight sequence in the end, reading it, I was like, 'This is a dream come true'. I love stunt work. I love fight sequences, and to be able to be a part of it."

How did the finale set up The Boys season 5?

Warning that Vought would be coming for them, Polarity told Marie and her friends they had to go on the run. He stayed behind, telling Emma that he would be in touch. Emma also said goodbye to Greg with a kiss, and told him to "f**k s**t up".

That night, making a stop on their journey, the group was confronted by Annie January/Starlight. Annie told the group she and the rest of the resistance against Homelander's rule were impressed with them, and asked them to join.

A-Train then appeared, revealing he was also part of the resistance, and told them to start acting like the rebels they now are – with all of this hinting towards the God U students being a much bigger part of The Boys season 5.

Speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com, the man behind the entire The Boys universe, Eric Kripke, said: "Michele Fazekas, who ran Gen V and then me, who was writing season 5 as they were shooting the end of this... Michele and I were just in a lot of regular communication about what I wanted her to tee up and what she was doing.

"And the goal was really just to kind of set the chessboard for season 5. This notion that there was this basically fascist government in play, but that there was a growing resistance led by Annie. And then, as a surprise, that A-Train is a part of it, and that now they've enlisted the Gen V gang, and that there's this growing Dumbledore's Army, as it were, to fight against Homelander.

"What's great about being able to have these shows is they're each able to tell their own self-enclosed story, but they're also able to set up exposition that then I don't need to explain throughout The Boys. Like, 'OK, the audience gets that there's a resistance coming, we can just jump into season 5, what that resistance has been up to'.

"Season 5 takes place a good amount of months after Gen V ends, so you'll also catch up what's been happening in the intervening time and how this resistance has been going. The spoiler I can give you is 'not well'."

When asked whether the end of Gen V season 2 was teasing a showdown between the two Odessa babies, Marie and Homelander, Kripke teased: "Stay tuned. I mean, I feel like there's a long line of people waiting to get their shot at Homelander, and there's a few people that have been waiting in line longer.

"So while I think she's a crucial player, we also want to honour each show, and I think the main protagonists of each show kind of live in those worlds. So she'll be a part of it, but she won't be the deciding factor. This doesn't all come down to Marie versus Homelander."

Other potential hints towards The Boys season 5 that we saw in the finale included Sage rejecting a call from Homelander, who was no doubt going to ask about Godolkin's return.

There's also the matter of phase 2 of her plan, which she was originally going to enact with Godolkin. Could she still be planning something major that somehow includes Homelander? For now, we'll have to wait and see.

Gen V seasons 1-2 are available to stream in full on Prime Video now. The Boys seasons 1-4 are available to watch now – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.

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