Eric Kripke Won’t Rule Out Homelander and Butcher Returning in ‘The Boys’ Universe, Teases the Multiverse

For seven years, ‘The Boys‘ built one of the most electrically charged rivalries in superhero television, a collision course between Antony Starr’s Homelander and Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher that promised to end only one way. The Prime Video series wrapped up that central conflict with its fifth and final season, which premiered in April and delivered its culminating episode on May 20.

Creator Eric Kripke had long been clear that this was always the plan, telling The Hollywood Reporter that the show was designed as a serialized story about two forces slowly crashing into each other, and that it simply could not work without either character.

The finale confirmed what fans had long suspected, with Butcher ultimately killing Homelander using a crowbar after Kimiko stripped the Supe of his powers, a moment Kripke revealed had been locked in from the very first episode of the series. Kripke described the final Butcher-Hughie confrontation as his favorite scene of the entire run, calling it “the secret primary conflict” of the show across all five seasons. For most viewers, it felt like the definitive close of a chapter, a bloody, earned goodbye to two of television’s most compelling anti-heroes.

Which is what makes Kripke’s post-finale comments so intriguing. Speaking to Deadline following the series finale, the showrunner left the door firmly ajar when asked whether Homelander and Butcher could resurface in future projects. His answer was simple but loaded. “Never say never,” he said. “The multiverse is not off the table.”

The remark lands with weight precisely because the franchise is not going quietly. Several spin-offs are already in motion, including ‘Vought Rising’, which will explore the early days of Vought International, and ‘The Boys: Mexico’, developed with Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna serving as executive producers. Kripke has also confirmed that ‘Vought Rising’, led by Jensen Ackles reprising his role as Soldier Boy, will address mysteries left unresolved by the main show’s finale. The universe is very much alive, even if its two central pillars are not.

In a separate conversation with TV Insider, Kripke spoke openly about the creative possibilities of a post-Homelander world, describing a landscape where Vought-disavowed Supes are now effectively loose in society with no corporate protection, no insurance, and no one covering up their messes, a milieu he called “super interesting to play in.” He also told Collider that there is hope the ‘Gen V’ characters could return in some form, describing the disbanded college-age Supes as “loose nukes” scattered across the world with no structure around them.

Whether a multiverse framework could realistically bring back characters as definitively written off as Homelander and Butcher remains an open question, and Kripke’s comment reads more like playful speculation than an active plan. He had always insisted the show was designed around those two characters and their inevitable confrontation, which is precisely why Season 5 was always meant to be the end. Still, given the sprawling ambition of what the ‘Boys’ universe is becoming, stranger things have happened on this particular Prime Video lot.

With ‘Vought Rising’ expected to arrive in 2027 and ‘The Boys: Mexico’ still in development, the franchise has plenty of runway ahead. Whether Antony Starr and Karl Urban are ever part of it remains to be seen, but the fact that Kripke isn’t slamming any doors is the kind of thing fans are going to be discussing for a long time. What do you think, should Homelander and Butcher stay dead and let the ending speak for itself, or is there a version of their return that you would actually want to see?