The Boys' Best Character Is Also The Show's Greatest Weakness
Contains spoilers for "The Boys" comics and potentially "The Boys" TV series
When it comes to picking a favorite character on "The Boys," there's really no wrong answer. It's natural to be drawn to the permanent sneer and devil-may-care attitude of Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) or the idealism-turned-disillusionment arc for Starlight (Erin Moriarty). However, for many fans, the primary reason to tune in one season after the next is to see how deranged Homelander (Antony Starr) becomes — but that's starting to create narrative problems.
It's easy to hate to love to hate Homelander. After all, Starr does so much more with the character than merely playing him as an evil Superman. Homelander's dark history fills in a lot of blanks as to why he's so unstable, and he has so many quirks that make him stand out in any given scene. (These days, it's hard to drink a glass of milk without thinking of Homelander's dairy obsession.) He's the main supe of the series and the primary target for Billy and the rest of the Boys, with each season focused on their attempts to take down the seemingly invincible "hero" once and for all.
And therein lies the issue.
For a show that revels in randomness and defying expectations, every season sort of feels the same. The Boys set out to kill Homelander with the help of some new Macguffin. Homelander escapes at the last second, and the show returns to its status quo. Sure, there are various subplots that get enhanced, and characters leave and enter the storyline. But the main arc remains the same, putting the show in a serious bind if it's planning on continuing for the foreseeable future.
A lot of fans don't want to see Homelander die
There's an issue action-oriented TV shows face when a character becomes such a fan-favorite that it seems impossible the series would ever dispatch them. That's kind of what happened with Daryl Dixon on "The Walking Dead," who survived the entire run and even got his own spin-off, pretty much giving him indestructible plot armor throughout the zombie apocalypse. Fans would've rioted if Daryl ever died because people love that character so much, and it seems Homelander may have found himself in a similar situation.
A Reddit thread dedicated to figuring out the best way for Homelander to be killed off makes one thing crystal clear: If Homelander dies, it better be in the final episode. Redditor u/monkeybawz points out that the red, white, and blue supe represents a lot of what makes "The Boys" so good, saying, "Why would I want him to die? With him goes a lot of the insanity that makes the show great." U/Appellion believes the show couldn't really last beyond his death. "As soon as Homelander and Butcher are dead and gone, there's really no point to continuing. Going on past that point is just milking a dead cow (totally an expression)."
Without Homelander, there's no show, but with Homelander, the show has begun to repeat itself ad nauseam, a real problem for a series that sells itself on the idea that "anything can happen." "The Boys" showrunner long ago confirmed not wanting to stop at Season 4, and Season 5 is already in the works; therefore, it's a safe bet Homelander's going to survive Season 4's storyline. And that runs the risk of making these new episodes feel like the show's spinning its wheels.
Every season follows a pattern with Homelander as the main target
The basic outline for each season of "The Boys" is roughly the same. The eponymous team has a new plan for taking out Homelander. There's ample carnage and vulgarity along the way, and, by the end, there's some kind of confrontation that ultimately ends in a truce of sorts between the Boys and Homelander. Everything basically gets a full reset, with the Boys now needing to find some other method that can kill the seemingly unkillable supe.
"The Boys" feels like a show where anything can happen, from people's heads randomly exploding to heroes letting civilians die in a plane crash. As such, it goes against a central tenet of the show for something so predictable to occur one season after the next. The Boys can't kill Homelander because then there really wouldn't be a show. Sure, they could theoretically go around trying to kill or depower every other supe following his demise, but none of them could possibly be as entertaining to watch as Homelander, and the show as a whole would almost certainly suffer in his absence.
Of course, Homelander's death is more of a question of when than if. Homelander doesn't survive "The Boys" comics, and while the show has deviated greatly from the source material, it seems to be a given that sooner or later, Homelander must perish. That would probably only happen in the final episode of the show, so if the series is extended beyond Season 5, it could quickly get repetitive to see the supe narrowly escape doom one season after the next.
Should The Boys end at Season 5 with Homelander's death?
Honestly, "The Boys" feels like a show that could end after five solid seasons. Season 4 could end with a major death, perhaps someone on the Boys' team finally bites the dust, setting up a final showdown between Billy Butcher and Homelander for the Season 5 finale, where the caped supe finally gets some kind of cosmic comeuppance. That's assuming Season 5 is truly the end, though, and showrunner Eric Kripke revealed in an interview with Inverse that although his original plan was to conclude "The Boys" after five seasons, that may no longer be the case. "I have learned my lesson and I've stopped predicting how many seasons these shows go," he said. "You will find out in hindsight."
It's natural to want to milk a show for all its worth, and if "The Boys" continues bringing in viewers, it's easy to envision a scenario where it lasts for seven, eight, or more seasons. But that's a long time for Butcher and Homelander to continue this dance, and there needs to be some change-up to the status quo, or people will inevitably lose interest. "The Boys" ending after five seasons would give it a solid, well-regarded run, whereas keeping the show going past its shelf life could lead to fans inevitably saying, "You know, 'The Boys' was really good up until, like, Season 7."
To its credit, "The Boys" universe is expanding with spinoffs like "Gen V" as well as the forthcoming "The Boys: Mexico," a project that reunites two beloved actors. It is possible, then, that other characters could enter the mix to fill the void left if Homelander is killed before the series finale. But it's probably pretty safe to assume that Homelander will only die when "The Boys" as a whole is ready to call it a day.