Eric Kripke Explains Why ‘The Boys’ Had to Break Our Hearts Before the Finale

‘The Boys‘ has never been shy about putting its characters through hell, but the final season has raised the emotional stakes in ways that feel genuinely irreversible. With the Prime Video superhero satire drawing toward its conclusion after five seasons, creator Eric Kripke has been carefully guiding the story toward a landing that matches the chaos and darkness that defined the show from the very beginning.

Episode 7 of the fifth and final season, titled “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man They Call Mother’s Milk,” finds Billy Butcher and Hughie captured during a covert mission at Vought Studios, where a psychic extracts their knowledge and passes Frenchie and Kimiko’s location directly to Homelander. The setup is efficient and merciless, and what follows hits with the force the show has been quietly building toward all season.

Frenchie, played by Tomer Capone, sacrificed himself to shield Kimiko Miyashiro from Homelander’s wrath, exposing himself to a fatal dose of radiation while delivering one final, defiant line to the evil supe. He is the first permanent member of the team to die after Ryan killed Mallory at the end of season four, and the only main character on the core team to be killed across the entire run of the show.

Speaking to TVLine, showrunner Eric Kripke explained his reasoning plainly, saying “I really felt strongly that the Boys as a unit can’t make it to the end without a major sacrifice. It’s just not how reality works. There’s no victory without terrible sacrifice and terrible loss, and I think people know that in their bones.” He went on to cite an unexpected influence, pointing to the Lord of the Rings films and books as a masterclass in hard-won victories, noting that when a win comes too easily, it simply does not feel truthful.

In a separate conversation with Collider, Kripke also addressed what finally pushed Homelander over the edge with Soldier Boy in the same episode, as well as the significance of Jensen Ackles getting a final nod in the form of an Impala reference slipped into his last scene in the series. Kripke explained that Homelander’s decision to put Soldier Boy back in the cryo chamber is rooted in his fear of abandonment, saying the character simply could not handle being left again by the closest thing he has ever had to a father, with so much of his psychology wrapped up in rejection and loss.

The episode has since become the lowest-rated in the show’s history on IMDb, sitting at a 6.5 out of 10 based on over 24,000 reviews, with fans voicing concern about how the series would deliver on its finale. That response, however mixed, points to how deeply invested the audience remains in these characters, even as the show makes choices that genuinely sting.

Kripke has previously said his greatest anxiety about the final season is hoping the creative team can “land the plane,” acknowledging that fans will judge the entire run of the show based on how they feel when the credits roll on the last episode. With Frenchie gone and Homelander now running unchecked, that pressure has never felt more real.

Whether Frenchie’s death feels like the earned sacrifice Kripke intended or a step too far for a show already pushing its audience to the limit is a question only the finale can truly answer, and it would be worth hearing where you land on that.