The Boys are back in town. Ha! Has anyone written that before?
Homelander, Butcher, Hughie, and Starlight are back in the blood-splattering mess of Vought in a new Season 3 trailer, with an equally on-the-nose song choice: “Heroes and Villains” by The Beach Boys. Good one, guys!
But really, the song serves as a great way to tease the madness that lies ahead in the new season of The Boys. After a year of tranquility, shit’s hitting the fan again. Homelander (Antony Starr) is on a bright and shiny press tour in a shoddy attempt at fame, smiley and bright in interviews while the world continues to collapse around him. But according to Erin Moriarty’s Starlight, “there’s something wrong” with him. (Hasn’t there always been?)
But what about those Boys? Butcher’s (Karl Urban) working with the government now, with none other than Hughie (Jack Quaid) as his supervisor. While those two go at it, the other Boys have just learned of some sort of anti-supe weapon. And Hughie already seems to be questioning his role as “the right way” to fight the Supes, ready to turn to that mysterious tool instead.
“I think I have something,” an urgent Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) offers in the trailer. “Maybe we can use it to blow Homelander’s fucking brains out.”
That special, world-altering apparatus seems to have some relation to Jensen Ackles’ new character, Soldier Boy, the very first superhero. After Queen Maeve introduces the serum (which, apparently, turns regular folks into supes), the trailer cuts right to Ackles’ green-clad vigilante as he jabs his shield into a victim’s neck over and over again.
At this year’s SXSW festival, Karl Urban teased the upcoming season to be “bigger,” a “fun, intense roller-coaster ride” of new storylines. Showrunner Eric Kripke echoed: “It’s not just the craziest thing we’ve done, I think it’s the craziest thing anybody has ever done.”
In that same panel, Kripke compared Homelander’s Season 3 arc to the Trump administration’s handling of COVID—related to those weird press conferences at the start of the trailer. “It’s like how Homelander is always more concerned with how something looks rather than solving the problem,” he said. “It’s about how certain leaders need to front as macho. We’re watching the world edge toward World War III right now because there’s a guy with a tiny dick trying to do a thing.”
The Boys will return on June 3, with new episodes dropping weekly on Prime Video.
