Summary
- Worried about backlash – end of series hard to land, needs to avoid Game of Thrones level backlash
- Can avoid GoT fate since the series has already diverged from source material, and can go in any direction
- Shouldn’t worry about fan sentiment since the show is always controversial, backlash inevitable.
One of the most popular series on television or streaming is getting ready to release its final season. This particular series just happens to be based on a set of books, though it’s long ago diverged in very important ways from its source material. That’s two ways in which Season 5 of The Boys and Season 8 of Game of Thrones are similar. The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke hopes that’s really where the similarities end. And he wants people to know that he does worry there’s one other thing the two series will have when it’s all said and done.
To some degree, it’s a worry most showrunners probably have with series that are getting to come to an end of their choosing. That’s not all that common anymore, even for a show that’s popular like Evil. Kripke is getting to take his second show to completion after a relatively long run. Of course, there are few series that wlll be on the air as long as Supernatural was. Which is maybe why he’s happy getting five full seasons and not being abruptly canceled. But even with a run that’s not nearly as long as Supernatural or even Game of Thrones, Kripke is worried that some people will look at the superhero show the same way they look at the high fantasy series that started out so beloved and was almost hated by its end.
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The Boys Showrunner Worries About GoT Level Backlash
Speaking to Collider earlier this year about his worries, he is well aware that very few shows end the way fans want. There’s been a lot of talk about how The Boys will end and there are plenty of ways people want it to end compared to how people should expect it to end because of the four seasons that came before the finale.
“I’ll say that you can count the amount of truly great series finales on one hand,” Kripke said in that interview, “It’s so hard to land that plane … Game of Thrones was an amazing show. When you think of the amount of work and effort and craft that went into that show, and all anyone talks about is the finale.”
There are obvious reasons why people only talk about the Game of Thrones finale and that’s because they wanted to see a show that more directly followed the books the series was based on. That’s why the way that things finished up was hated by the fans and that’s where Kripke has a little bit of leeway.
The Boys Can Avoid Game Of Thrones’ Fate
The Boys has long ago stepped away from the source material of the graphic novels. Some fo the biggest reveals have been entirely sidestepped, like Black Noir being a clone of The Homelander. There are other characters in the show that aren’t in the books and this is actually a kind of safeguard for Kripke.
There are other characters in the show that aren’t in the books and this is actually a kind of safeguard for Kripke.
Should he decide to have The Boys series finale be quite a bit different than how the book ends, there will be fans that complain, but those who are loyal to the show can point to the fact that it’s already done things that are quite different. Essentially, Kripke has already made The Boys, his and thus he can go in any direction he wants. The writers and artists for the books aren’t claiming to be working on a sequel that she show should mimic. The Amazon Prime series has room to do whatever he wants. And while he’s still going to be worried about how the show is received, it can be however he wants and there won’t be pushback from other artists.
The Boys Showrunner Shouldn’t Worry About Fan Sentiment
There’s another reason why Kripke doesn’t need to worry about how the series finale goes over. And the showrunner can embrace whatever the backlash is because the show has always been one that is going to anger somebody.
Fans might remember when a certain group finally realized that Homelander was in fact, not a good guy and that several of the characters are not particularly good people. However, the show managed to lean into the outrage over that discovery and still has plenty of people tuning in all the time.
There is also some indications in this day and age that there will always be backlash over the smallest things no matter what happens. There will be people who gather en masse to complain and downvote and rage no matter how the show ends. It’s natural for Kripke to want to make sure that everyone enjoys his work and doesn’t come away angry. But in order for The Boys to really give people a great ending, the showrunner has to stop worrying about reactions from outsiders and just stick with his plan.
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