This article contains spoilers for Season 5, Episode 3 of ‘The Boys’.

Summary

Collider’s Joe Schmidt talks with showrunner Eric Kripke and star Laz Alonso about The Boys Season 5, Episode 3.

Kripke discusses how V1 reshapes the power struggle, pushing Homelander toward a god complex while the Boys race to secure it for their own survival.

Alonso also breaks down M.M.’s mindset heading into the final episodes, including his newfound freedom, his inevitable conflict with Stan Edgar, and whether anyone deserves a happy ending.

Season 5, Episode 3 of The Boys marks the moment the final season truly locks in place. What starts as a potential solution quickly becomes the most dangerous asset in the series, as V1 turns into the central object every major player is chasing. The fallout reshapes Homelander’s trajectory, raises the stakes for The Boys, and pushes characters like Mother’s Milk into entirely new territory. Following Episode 3, Collider’s Joe Schmidt spoke with showrunner Eric Kripke and star Laz Alonso about how the latest episode ignites the series’ endgame, what V1 really means for Homelander, and why M.M. is approaching the homestretch of The Boys with nothing left to lose.
V1 Becomes The Most Dangerous Prize in ‘The Boys’ Final Season

“And I just wish he’d quit marketing the show.”

COLLIDER: In this episode, V1 is the match that lights the powder keg that explodes and changes everything. Can you talk a little bit about that? ERIC KRIPKE: I mean, this notion that there’s this magic bullet to this virus and that it makes you immune to the virus. That’s the main thing. And so it becomes the loose football that everyone is chasing. Homelander, so then not just will he be immune, but he’ll be immortal. And this news is the news that completely sends him over the edge into thinking that he has an opportunity to become literally God, which I would have said was totally fucking insane that any leader would actually publicly proclaim themselves to be God. And then Trump released that image of himself last night. And I just wish he’d quit marketing the show. Like enough already. Like we don’t… Anyway, it would make Homelander immortal. But then The Boys are trying to get it for a couple of reasons. One, so Homelander doesn’t. But two, they think it’s an opportunity to save Kimiko and Annie. So the rest of the season becomes the hunt for this V1.
When ‘The Boys’ Feels Too Close To Reality

“It’s upsetting.”

Homelander on stage in the dark as the audience looks out, his hand out to quiet them.Image via Amazon Prime Video

I interviewed Jack [Quaid] … and one of the things I asked Jack is, do you ever watch the news? And I’m going to ask you the same thing. Do you ever watch the news and just think, “Oh, shit, we just filmed something like this last year and now I’m seeing it happen in real life”? KRIPKE: It happens all the time. And, you know, tomorrow’s episode is a perfect example. The talk about attacking the pope and presenting yourself as a God as we’re about to release an episode where Homelander thinks he’s God. I don’t know what to say about it. It’s upsetting. You know, I was sending a text, and someone last night who works on the show sent me the image. And my reply is about how I feel, which is like I just texted back: Sigh. Hard, sad, sigh. And I say that’s what I’ll say to you: hard, sad, sigh.
Karl Urban Sets the Tone for ‘The Boys’ Cast and Crew

Urban is the best “number one” Kripke has worked with.

Totally, totally understood. So Karl’s character, Butcher, who is the lovable bastard of the show, has a really good moment with Ryan. Actually, kind of… I shouldn’t say lovable. KRIPKE: Yeah, he is convincing him to kill himself. A very mixed series of moments with Ryan. But Jack also said this about Karl, how he is really a good presence on set. How would you describe him going through this final season, especially knowing that this is the last time with this set of actors and this crew and this family that has been created. And also, if you can speak a little bit about his love of driving any sort of car or boat that he can, I would love that too. KRIPKE: Yeah, that’s funny. Yeah, and I’ve told Karl this many times. So there’s a thing… Just to pull back the curtain a little bit. There’s this expectation that when you’re… The term is “number one on the call sheet,” which means that you’re the lead of the show. You’re setting an example. KRIPKE: In effect, right. And with number one, like I always say, number one isn’t a privilege. It’s a responsibility. Yeah, exactly. You set the tone. The crew follows your lead. The rest of the cast follows your lead. And I can say that Karl is the best number one I’ve ever worked with in that regard. Like he takes his role as a leader. So seriously in that, when the crew is down, it’s Karl who’s clapping his hands and saying, “All right, guys, come on, we can do this.” When the actors are upset, he’ll go to them and work it out. He’s remarkable and such an incredible partner beyond the fact that, obviously, he’s wildly charismatic and talented and so good at action and drama. But just from a producer standpoint, he’s a remarkable partner to have on that set because I’m in Los Angeles a lot of the time. I think one of the reasons that that set is such a loving place is because of the tone he sets. So I give him all the credit in the world for that. And yeah, he really loves to drive shit. But he lives on the water in Australia, so he is very, very comfortable with speed boats. And so he really wanted to drive the boat into the whale, which he did and drove it in a way that I think almost murdered Jack Quaid. And every time there’s a car or a spin out or something, he’s always the first to volunteer to get behind the wheel. Even more so than Laz [Alonso], who’s also an excellent driver, like Laz was in Fast and the Furious. Laz knows how to spin out a car, but there’s something about it that Karl just loves.
Balancing Homelander’s Power and Fragility

“I think it’s honestly the partnership with Ant most of all that makes it take off.”

Antony Starr as Homelander in The Boys Season 5, Episode 3Image via Prime Video

That’s funny. I wanted to ask you how on Homelander, you thread that line between narcissism and his desire for approval. And I have to ask how difficult that is to balance those two for a character like that. KRIPKE: It takes a lot of conversation in the writer’s room. You’re balancing and counterbalancing things all the time and talking them through and talking them through again. But I have to tell you, Antony makes it easy. He’s so hyper aware of where Homelander is at that moment. And so he and I, once he gets the script, will have, I think, a really productive exchange of ideas. It’s never like, “I have notes.” It’s always, “Okay, cool. I see what you’re trying to do for Homelander here in the writing. But, could I play it like this?” Or, “This line feels off base for me,” and we’ll go through it line by line and really figure out how we stay on the tight wire that we’re trying to stay on to get them to that place so that he’s always carrying the balance between this autocratic, bullying, dictatorial, dangerous character and then just how desperate and weak and needy and small he is. And so, I think it’s honestly the partnership with Ant most of all that makes it take off. Just give that guy an Emmy already, for Christ’s sake.
Mother’s Milk is Fighting With Nothing Left to Lose

“I love that the juxtaposition is that M.M. is the most carefree he’s ever been.”

Let’s start off by talking about how this is the episode where it kind of blows everything open and changes the trajectory for where the show is going towards the final episodes. I want to ask you, V1 changes everything and Mother’s Milk is already in a dark place. What’s his goal now heading into these final episodes? LAZ ALONSO: I think that M.M.’s goal now is to finish what we started. Regardless of whether or not he will live to see the end of it. There’s a freedom that M.M. has this season that he’s never had before. And that’s not having the will or the need to make it home to his family. He’s accepted that his fate will probably keep him from doing that. And while it sounds like a dark fate, he’s living life, man. This is probably the most fun he’s ever had fighting the superheroes. He’s smoking. He’s drinking. He’s hanging out with Butcher. And there’s just a freedom and a lack of needing to control every situation that I think allows him to meet the moment. With the stakes being so high this season, more than any other season, I love that the juxtaposition is that M.M. is the most carefree he’s ever been.
M.M. Inevitable Collision in ‘The Boys’ Final Season

“I think that he knows where this is going to lead.”

Stan Edgar and M.M. in ‘The Boys’Image via Prime Video

There’s a really cool scene between you and Giancarlo Esposito in [Episode 3]. And M.M. really just has this… I wouldn’t say laissez-faire, but a whole, “Well, if you’re gonna do this, I’m gonna be the one to kill you.” I really enjoyed that scene. Do you see M.M. forgiving, if it’s possible, or is he too far gone to forgive someone like Soldier Boy or even Edgar?

ALONSO: I don’t think he’ll ever be able to do that. I think that he is willing to die on his shield. And regardless of whether or not he gets to that point, that is his goal. Right now, there are two soldiers on opposite sides of the battlefield and, sure, they can meet in the middle for a cigar. But as we see at the end of that scene, they both know where they belong. Once they can make it out of this, this bunker. And that’s not teaming up and fighting together. That’s, “You go your way. I go mine. And if I see you again, one of us ain’t gonna live to tell the story.” And they accept that, and I think that that was a fair way to end that scene, considering the history that Giancarlo’s character, Stan Edgar, had with M.M.’s whole family, with his dad, this is generational. While he can play nice for the moment, I think that he knows where this is going to lead. And he’s okay with it.
‘The Boys’ Fans Finally Got The Moment They’ve Been Asking For

People have been requesting it for at least three seasons, and it’s finally a reality.

Laz Alonso looking concerned in ‘The Boys’Jasper Savage / ©Amazon / Courtesy Everett Collection

People have spoken about Eric Kripke, that he’s a very collaborative storyteller with the actors. Is there something specific that you requested for M.M. in this season going into these final episodes? ALONSO: Yeah, man, I did. I requested… People always wanted to see Homelander and M.M. cross paths at some point because they never do, and considering M.M.’s name, they were like, “How does Homelander never come across Mother’s Milk of all people?” And so I made that request. And sure enough, he put it in there for Episode 1. So that was definitely something that we enjoyed shooting just because, literally, for at least three seasons, people have been requesting and asking for “When’s M.M. and Homelander gonna meet up?” And it lasted for a couple seconds, but it was just funny.
Does Anyone Deserve a Happy Ending in ‘The Boys’?

“But I do think that the audience would like to see somebody make it out…”

Do you think it’s possible for anyone on this team to have what looks like a happy ending? What does winning look like now? ALONSO: I think that everyone would like a happy ending. I think that everyone on the Boys… That’s tough… That’s loaded. I don’t know if we deserve a happy ending because there is an element to having to become that which you despise in order to defeat them that we have all pretty much adopted. And there’s a level of violence that we’ve participated in that can’t just go swept under the rug. We’ve been violent too. But I do think that the audience would like to see somebody make it out, but who that’ll be is yet to be yet to be yet to be seen.

Release Date

2019 – 2026-00-00

Showrunner

Eric Kripke

Writers

Eric Kripke

Franchise(s)

The Boys