The Boys season 5: Release date speculation and latest news

Meanwhile, Homelander star Antony Starr added: "I look at the last two seasons... like an accordion. One piece of the accordion is going out and then this is the compression going back in.

"There was a lot of setup in season 4 for season 5. Everything is gunning towards that climactic end. So it’s exciting at the moment because we’re filming all that."

Last year, before he'd read the scripts for the new batch of episodes, Hughie star Jack Quaid told RadioTimes.com that he expected they would feature "a lot of murder", given that the "writers can kind of do whatever they want".

But what do we actually know for certain about season 5? And how about its upcoming spin-off Vought Rising? Read on for everything you need to know, but beware – spoilers for seasons 1-4 abound.

The Boys season 5 release date speculation

While we don't have a specific release date for The Boys season 5, it will be will be released in 2026, as confirmed in an Instagram post by actor Karl Urban.

Alongside a picture of co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Urban wrote: "Working with the illustrious @jeffreydeanmorgan was the best part of my day every day. That’s all @theboystv for now folks. See you in …2 years (wish it was sooner) for the final season on @primevideo."

A 2026 release date would be consistent with the two-year hiatuses between seasons 2 and 3, and 3 and 4.

Filming kicked off on 25th November 2024.

Creator Eric Kripke confirmed the filming start date to Collider, this month, adding that it's going to be difficult dealing with the fact that the series is coming to an end.

He said: "I’m fortunate, in that I get to maintain my denial for quite a while because I’m so busy right now…

"Just the amount of work, it’s so busy that I think somewhere in the middle of the season, it’s gonna hit me, and hit me really emotionally. I’ve been wilfully denying it. It hasn’t totally sunk in. That will be hard."

The Boys season 5 cast

The following stars have been confirmed to star in The Boys season 5:

• Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell
• Karl Urban as Billy Butcher
• Antony Starr as Homelander
• Erin Moriarty as Annie/Starlight
• Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk
• Jessie T Usher as A-Train
• Chace Crawford as The Deep
• Tomer Capone as Serge/Frenchie
• Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko
• Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett
• Cameron Crovetti as Ryan
• Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy
• Mason Dye as Bombsight
• Daveed Diggs as TBC
• Jared Padalecki as TBC
• Misha Collins as TBC

Jensen Ackles will reprise his role as Soldier Boy in The Boys season 5, it has been confirmed.

The news was announced at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday (26th July), in which Ackles made a surprise appearance.

Showrunner Eric Kripke said (via Deadline): "We can announce that Soldier Boy will be a regular in season 5. The motherf***er’s back."

Kripke had previously said in a 2022 interview: "We’ll all have to wait and see, but I can’t imagine the series ending without Soldier Boy making another appearance."

It was also revealed that, once The Boys final season ends, Ackles will appear in a new prequel series called Vought Rising.

We're not sure at the moment as to who else could return, but it seems likely that all of the main stars from The Boys season 4 will be back for season 5. That is, those who managed to survive.

While we assumed that meant we wouldn't be seeing Claudia Doumit's Victoria Neuman again due to her death in the season 4 finale, Deadline has listed Doumit as a cast member who's set to return. We also wouldn't expect to see Robin's Grace Mallory again, except in flashback form, after her demise. Either way, fans will have to keep their eyes peeled on who returns in the upcoming season.

We also have some new castings to look forward to! Stranger Things star Mason Dye, who played Jason Carver in the series, has been cast as Bombsight.

While little is known about the character, Bombsight has actually been mentioned in The Boys before. In season 4, it was mentioned that he starred in the 1950s film The Curse of Fu Manchu from Vought International.

Sources claim that Dye will also appear in upcoming spin-off Vought Rising but Prime Video declined to comment on that element of the casting.

Dye isn't the only new face we'll see in season 5. Daveed Diggs, star of Hamilton, Snowpiercer, and The Little Mermaid, was recently cast in a mysterious role in the upcoming season.

Meanwhile, there will be a reason to rejoice for Supernatural fans who watch The Boys. Jensen Ackles will be joined by his former co-stars Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins in the new season, a Supernatural reunion that nobody saw coming. Who Padalecki and Collins will be playing has yet to be announced.

The trio shared the news in a video posted to social media, alongside the tagline "Season 5 just got a bit more supernatural".

Padalecki recently teased what fans can expect from his on-screen reunion with his former Supernatural co-stars in the final season of The Boys, telling Business Insider during the 2025 Texas Film Awards.

Confirming he will share screen time with Ackles, he continued: "I don’t know a whole lot about it, which is effing terrifying," he said.

The Boys season 5 plot: What could happen?

Exact plot details for The Boys season 5 are being kept under wraps, but if creator Kripke's recent comments are anything to go by, fans can expect an epic sendoff.

Speaking to LadBible, Kripke previously teased: "You know, I think the finale of season four really shows you that we've been planning five years all along."

He added: "There's no way a show goes one more season after the events of that finale. As far as we're concerned, it's our show's version of the apocalypse."

Meanwhile, in an interview with ScreenRant, Colby Minifie, known for her role as Ashley Barrett, revealed that the season 5 ending is being kept hidden from the show's cast.

She said: "We're still in the middle [of production on season 5], and those writers really know how to do it. They actually haven't given us the last two episodes yet, but it's all building. It's really building in a way where I'm like, "Oh my God, what's going to happen next?!" I can't wait to read those episodes.

She continued: "It's crazy, man. It's been seven years working on that character, and it's crazy being in that headspace for so long. What's great about The Boys is that it allows us to comment on what's happening in our society in real-time. And it's palatable because it's within a genre that is fantasy."

What we do know about The Boys season 5, plot-wise, is that there's going to be plenty of characters that aren't going to make it out alive. In an interview with Deadline, creator Eric Kripke has teased “there will probably be lots of deaths " and “there’s no guarantee of who’s gonna survive” the final season.

Considering The Boys started as a comic and has its own ending, some fans may feel like they at least have an idea of who will survive. But according to cast member Nathan Mitchell (Black Noir) there are going to be some things in season 5 that fans aren't "going to have in [their] bingo card." What this means is anyone's guess, but we feel safe assuming that everyone is fair game.

Why will The Boys season 5 be the final season?

Showrunner Eric Kripke has explained his reasoning for ending The Boys with its fifth season, saying it was always his plan and he just had to convince Prime Video.

He told TVLine that Prime Video pushed back "lovingly", adding: "There was no, like, 'You have to keep this show going.' It was more of like a very friendly and respectful, like, 'Are you sure season 5 is the last season? Are you sure you don’t want to do more?'"

He continued: "But we were already, like, barreling towards this. The truth is we knew that it was going to be a five-season story for years now. I mean, probably since writing the beginning of season 3, we knew, and so we were already laying down track that was always heading in this direction.

"Honestly, they’ve been great about letting us end it on our own terms. I’m really grateful."

However, fans don't need to worry that the fifth season will be a full-stop on the world of The Boys. With a second season of Gen V on the way, and another Mexico-set spin-off in development, it seems there is plenty of potential for the universe to run and run.

Kripke told Entertainment Weekly: "This story of The Boys will not continue on. With any luck, Gen V will continue on, there will be hopefully a couple others in development that we're talking about that can continue on, but The Boys story ends in season 5."

Is there a trailer for The Boys season 5?

There isn't a trailer available for The Boys season 5 yet.

We will add any new footage from season 5 in here as and when it is released, but in the meantime you can rewatch the season 4 trailer below.

The Boys seasons 1-4 are available to stream now on Prime Video – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days. Plus, read our guides to the best Amazon Prime series and the best movies on Amazon Prime.

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