It was an eventful panel for Prime Video’s The Boys today at San Diego Comic-Con. The showrunner and cast revealed quite a lot about the upcoming fifth and final season, while showing off footage from season two of Gen V. One of the big reveals was that Jensen Ackles had been upped to series regular on The Boys for his role as Soldier Boy. This was expected after the character was teased in the recent season finale. Not only that, but Ackles was there to announce a new spinoff, Vought Rising, with an intriguing co-star.
Vought Rising is a prequel series set in the 1950s, exploring the origins of Vought and its creator, Frederick Vought. Soldier Boy will feature heavily in the show as one of Vought’s first and most successful subjects of Compound V. Joining Ackles in the series will be Aya Cash, who fans of The Boys will recognize as the Nazi villain Stormfront from seasons two and three.
The Boys EP Paul Grellong will act as showrunner, with franchise head Erik Kripke also aboard on the creative side.
“We are excited to bring you the next deranged series from the world of “The Boys,”” Kripke and Grellong said. “It’s a twisted murder mystery about the origins of Vought in the 1950s, the early exploits of Soldier Boy, and the diabolical maneuvers of a Supe known to fans as Stormfront, who was then going by the name Clara Vought. We cannot wait to blow your minds and trouble your souls with this salacious, grisly saga drenched in blood and Compound V.”
So it’s going to be a busy time for Ackles, who also has the Prime Video series Countdown coming up.
As for Gen V, it’s unclear how the show will address the loss of Chance Perdomo, who tragically died back in March. His character Andre Anderson was set to again be a critical figure, but it looks as if his absence will be a major plot point. There was a lot of footage of Sean Patrick Thomas as Polarity, Andre’s father and a famous superhero in his own right. What we saw was the militaristic landscape from Homelander’s takeover of the government in The Boys season four will have a similar impact on Godolkin University. We see footage of new cast member Hamish Linklater as Cipher, the new Dean of Godolkin University, and a brief scene featuring Chance Crawford as The Deep, who appears to have taken a position of power there, as well.
