The Boys season 5 is finally here and just in the first episode we have already seen the death of one character. The series has always been about high stakes and brutal consequences, but this last run is turning everything up to eleven. As fans sit through the shocking demise, Eric Kripke is opening up on the creative decisions that backed it.
A-Train, played by Jessie T. Usher was killed off in the season 5 premiere when Homelander executed him after A-Train swerved to avoid hitting an innocent bystander, a callback to when A-Train accidentally killed Hughie’s girlfriend in the series premiere. It was a gutsy call, and creator Eric Kripke admits he wasn’t initially on board with it as he told The Hollywood Reporter. The team actually had other plans, alternate storylines exploring where A-Train was and how he could help The Boys, potentially spanning multiple episodes.
Speaking to the outlet he stated,
“I was initially resistant to killing him off that early. It was a little scary to kill him off so soon. We had actually broken out [an alternate storyline] that was like: Where is he now, what is he doing, and how can he help The Boys? — all that stuff was in process”
He then added how the writers convinced him to change his mind as he continued,
“They were like, ‘You keep saying that nobody’s safe, and that it’s going to be a season where anything can happen at any time. So with all due respect, put your f**king money where your mouth and show that you’re willing to drop a major character in the first episode. Because if you do that, then for the rest of the season, no one is going to feel safe.’ And I thought it was a winning argument.”
What happened in The Boys Season 5 premiere?
The episode premiered with quite a bang, staying in line with what Kripke has been teasing all this time. We see Homelander who is reshaping America while The Boys scramble to stop him, on the other hand Hughie, MM and Frenchie are sentenced to execution while Butcher, Annie, and Kimiko to orchestrate a daring prison break. They succeed, but A-Train’s redemption arc comes to a sudden end when Homelander catches and kills him after A-Train finally chooses to be a hero by saving Hughie.
If there’s anything the episode teases, then it’s that nobody is safe and the stakes will only get higher.
The Boys Season 5 is streaming on Prime Video.
Edited by Nibir Konwar