So what’s up next for The Boys? Well, let’s start with the leader of the titular supe-hunting squad,
Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher, who suffered the tragic loss of his wife Becca (
Shantel VanSanten) just as he thought he was getting her back.
As Kripke told Collider’s Liz Shannon Miller, the writing team knew from the very first season that Becca would ultimately have to die for the story to continue. “We looked at any version of keeping her alive and we found that the show ended whenever she was alive,” he explained. “Butcher was just way too functional and complete a person. And we need to create this major wound in this character, so we could keep playing his anger moving forward.”
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But Becca wasn’t the only victim of her son’s tragic super-powered outburst, which was aimed at Season 2’s Big Bad, st0rmfr0nt (
Aya Cash). When we last saw st0rmfr0nt, she was blasted into a smoldering husk of a person, deliriously murmuring in German with a sickly grin on her face. But she’s not dead. Kripke confirmed as much, telling us in no uncertain terms:
“Yeah, she’s not dead. What was important for us is, we felt a fate worse than death for that stumpy little Nazi was for someone who’s so believed in some kind of Arian master race to become mutilated for potentially decades or centuries. I mean, she ages very slow. So being trapped in that state felt like the right punishment for her. We call her Stumpfront now, and she richly deserves it.”
But in the world of The Boys, where Vaught is always scheming and Compound V continually provides new wonders, that doesn’t mean she’s out for good. So can we expect some kind of return for the Nazi in superhero’s clothing? Not necessarily. Speaking with
EW, Cash would neither confirm or deny the return of her character next season, but she did reveal that when she signed on for the job, it was a one-season contract.
“I think they’ve left the door open, but I also feel like there’s not much left of her,” she said. “She’s not technically dead, but I think you’ll just have to see season 3 to find out what happened to her, [or] if she’s going to be around at all in her smaller form.”
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Whether or not st0rmfr0nt herself returns, it seems a pretty safe bet that the dangerous ideas and cultural menaces she represents are likely to rear their head again in Season 3. In fact, the plan is to dig deeper into Vought’s corrupt history and the real-life societal struggles it represents. “There’s always been systemic racism and conflict and a lot of ugliness, yet always a fight to make things better,” Kripke told EW. “Certain politicians like to pitch this somehow idyllic ‘good old days’ where everything was perfect and calm. That is complete and utter bulls—. It was never that way. So, by exploring the history of Vought in the history of America, we get to make some of those points. There was never an America [like] when they say ‘Make America Great Again.’ It was always a struggle. That’s the point. It’s a struggle to make things better.”
Digging into that history means they’ll be introducing some new supes into the fold – well, actually, some old ones. Part of that history includes introducing
Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy, a riff on the Captain America figure, one of the first superheroes in the world of The Boys, who will head up a new/old team of supes called Payback. “In the world of our show,” Kripke explained, “[Payback] was the Seven before the Seven. We will be exploring the history of that team and all the members in it.”
As for the Seven, Kripke and his cast are playing things close to the vest for what to expect in Season 3, but
Antony Starr had two very intriguing, slightly terrifying words he could tease for Homelander’s future: “homicidal maniac”.
“There are two words that Eric has said to me about Season 3,” Starr told Collider’s Christina Radish. “His description for Homelander Season 3 was, ‘Two words, homicidal maniac.’ That’s all I know.”
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“I’m actually looking forward to seeing Homelander off the leash,” Starr added. “It’ll be really fun, just seeing him go unhinged and exact revenge.” And while Starr may not know exactly what’s in store for Season 3, he has a hunch on who should be watching their back. “If you look at the end of Season 2, some people should be more scared than others, for sure,” he said. “William Butcher should always have an alarm bell ringing in his head, and I think some other people have firmly put themselves in the line of fire for Season 3. It should be a lot of fun.”
