The Boys franchise is continuing to expand as it gears up to release its second spinoff series, Gen V. The Amazon Prime Video series, which premiered in 2019, is a dark, gritty, and humorous take on the superhero genre that shows what happens when enhanced individuals—”supes”—abuse their power. Not only are these “heroes” corrupt, but they work for the Vought corporation, which commodifies their image. While the corporation markets them as the world’s superheroes, most are violent, arrogant, and aggressive behind the scenes.
However, a small vigilante group known as the Boys decides to take on Vought’s biggest superhero team, the Seven. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who leads the group, has a personal vendetta against Homelander (Antony Starr), the most corrupt hero of them all. The wildly popular series has a fourth season on the way, and Amazon is looking to expand The Boys franchise, potentially making it into a shared universe. So far, one spinoff series—the animated anthology The Boys Presents: Diabolical—has made its debut.
While each episode of Diabolical featured a standalone story set in The Boys‘ universe, Amazon is getting a little more ambitious with its next project, Gen V. Based on what we know so far, the live-action series could end up being as gritty and bonkers as The Boys, if executed correctly. Here’s everything we know about Gen V so far.
Gen V release date
As reported by Variety, Gen V is set to premiere on Prime Video on September 29, 2023. It will kick off with a three-episode premiere, then will release one new episode weekly until November 3. This means Gen V will arrive on the platform before The Boys season 4. The release date corresponds with the start of the school year, which is a nice touch considering Gen V‘s college setting.
Gen V trailer
Amazon dropped the official redband trailer for Gen V on September 6, giving viewers a better look at Godolkin University.
The trailer starts with renowned supe teacher Professor Rich “Brink” Brinkerhoff (Clancy Brown) introducing everyone to Godolkin University. This college for supes is touted as a welcoming place for super-powered individuals, with the faculty exhibiting hopes of the students going on to save thousands of lives. Of course, nothing is ever as it seems in the universe of The Boys. Vought’s corruption appears to be all over Godolkin, which isn’t surprising given all the Homelander (Antony Starr) tributes around campus. The students discover that something very dark is happening at the school and take it upon themselves to unravel the deadly mystery.
Amazon also dropped a teaser trailer on July 24, 2023.
This official teaser reveals a few more plot details and fleshes out the main protagonist, Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair). For the first time, we get to see her powers at play for more than a few seconds, and they look terrifying. She has the ability to project her blood, veins, and arteries from her wrists and manipulate them in quite a powerful manner, though they leave a noticeable trail of blood everywhere they go.
Additionally, we learn that Marie is one of the top students at Godolkin University, but this might be why she has a target on her back. As the trailer declares, the freshman class of Godolkin is “savage,” and it’s easy to see jealousies and rivalries turning deadly, but there are also warnings of some pretty bad people behind the school. In line with its predecessor, The Boys, Gen V‘s trailer promises lots of gore and blood spatter, and maybe even some (more) “exploding dicks.”
The official teaser was even more gritty than the first-look teaser for Gen V that dropped on December 3, 2022.
Both teasers promise an absolutely blood-soaked supe adventure. The series of clips depicts plenty of chaos and gore as the camera pans across bodies and bloodied students and even shows someone shoveling up human remains from the street. It also gave us our first look at the majority of the lead cast members and teases surprise appearances from several Boys characters, including Jessie T. Usher’s A-Train, Colby Minifie’s Ashley Barrett, and P.J. Byrne’s Adam Bourke. With a stellar-looking cast, promises of gore, and cameos from The Boys characters, Gen V‘s first-look teaser definitely has us excited for more.
Gen V plot
Gen V will focus on a college for supes, Godolkin University, where the students take part in Hunger Games-like events on a daily basis. The school is, unsurprisingly, run by Vought and is the only Supe school in America. Of course, rounding up an entire school of hormonal and powerful supes is already a recipe for disaster. Add in that the students are competing for superhero contracts, and it will quickly become a violent, bloody, and intense competition.
The show’s official synopsis from Amazon reads:
[Gen V] is an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. It’s part college show, part Hunger Games — with all the heart, satire, and raunch of The Boys.
Gen V executive producer Eric Kripke also confirmed that the show takes place in the same timeline as The Boys season 3. As a result, there will be some crossover between the events from that season and Gen V. For example, the presidential campaign and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles)’s return will likely be mentioned. Kripke told Deadline:
“There’s definitely crossover, and we’re doing our best to design a universe that sees some of the issues and storylines in Season 3 hand off to the first season in Varsity [Gen V]. Like there’s a presidential campaign happening in the background of that season, and there’s certain things that are happening at that school that are both in reaction to Season 3 of The Boys. There’s Soldier Boy, etcetera, but also some new storylines that are happening in that season of the spinoff that we have to pick up and take into Season 4 of the show.”
Gen V cast
It is unknown if any of The Boys stars will guest star in the series but the main cast of Gen V has already been confirmed. Leading the cast will be Jaz Sinclair, who previously had a cameo in The Boys. Sinclair plays Marie Moreau, an orphaned supe who was living at Vought’s group home, Red River Institute, in The Boys. Her picture was shown briefly in the episode “The Only Man In The Sky.” Sinclair is a young actress best known for appearing in Slender Man, Paper Towns, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Sinclair is joined by co-star Lizze Broadway, who portrays a character named Emma Shaw. No details about Shaw are known so far, but Broadway has quite a bit of experience on the small screen with appearances in Here and Now, Splitting Up, and American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rule. Another The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star, Chance Perdomo, has also been cast in the series in an undisclosed role. Teenage Bounty Hunters‘ Maddie Phillips, hip-hop singer Derek Luh, and Bridgerton‘s Shelley Conn have all also been cast in undisclosed lead roles. London Thor and Asa Germann will also star in the series in their first major TV roles.
Patrick Schwarzenegger (son of Arnold) is also set to appear in the series as a college student named Golden Boy. Meanwhile, Sean Patrick Thomas will appear as a character named Polarity. Gen V will mark his second appearance in The Boys‘ universe as he previously voiced a male reporter for Diabolical. Lastly, Tideland star Marco Pigossi will appear as a character named Doctor Edison Cardos, and Supernatural‘s Alexander Calvert will round out the cast in an undisclosed role.
(featured image: Prime Video)
