After eight incredible episodes featuring exploding body parts, lots of hook-ups, and some huge cameos, Gen V Season 1 is over. Don’t worry, the show has already been picked up for Season 2. And you’re going to need it after that wild ending of Gen V Episode 8, “The Guardians of Godolkin.”
Things happen pretty quickly in the less-than-forty-minute episode, so you might be wondering about a little bit of an explainer about what went down. Or perhaps you were on your phone searching “Desperado meme” on TikTok instead of actively watching the episode. In which case, that’s on you, buddy.
But either way, we’re here to help break down that wild Gen V ending, explained, and what it might mean for Gen V Season 2… And The Boys Season 4.
Gen V Season 1, Episode 8 “The Guardians Of Godolkin” Recap:
Spoilers past this point. After Cate (Maddie Phillips) pushed Dean Shetty (Shelley Conn) to slit her own throat, we’re picking up right after that with all the main cast freaking out. Cate though is icy cold, and ready to become a hero by freeing all the kids trapped in the secret facility The Woods. Sam (Asa Germann) also wants to be a hero after getting radicalized at Victoria Neuman‘s (Claudia Doumit) Town Hall in Episode 7, “Sick.”
Only problem? Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh), and Emma (Lizze Broadway) don’t see them as heroes; they’re villains. So they decide to stop them. Unfortunately, they haven’t quite figured out this whole hero thing, and do kind of a poor job of it. Cate and Sam do break the superhero kids — and some adults — out of The Woods, who proceed to go wild on Godolkin University’s campus, killing any humans they come across.
In the midst of this, Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) is trying to handle the situation and offers Marie first a chance to be on The Seven (this world’s premiere superteam) or reconnect with her sister if she’ll just kill all these wild Supes. Instead, Marie tries to talk to Cate, asking her to stop what she’s doing. Instead, Cate compels the invisible Maverick (Nicholas Hamilton) to fight her.
While that’s going on, Andre (Chance Perdomo) returns to campus. He’s been in the hospital with his father, Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas), and has discovered that every time he uses his magnetic powers there’s a chance he could be causing little micro-fissures in his brain. That doesn’t stop him from stopping a falling helicopter from crashing or fighting Sam to a standstill.
Working together, they do manage to stop the rogue Supes. Marie finally uses the trauma of accidentally killing her parents to her advantage and takes control of her powers. Jordan visibly saves humans, versus how in the first episode they had their heroism taken away by Vought’s PR spin. And Godolkin is saved!
…Right?
Gen V Season 1 Ending Explained: What Happened In Episode 8’s Cliffhangers?
As Marie and Jordan lock eyes celebrating their victory, a distraught Cate stumbles over, ready to compel Jordan to fight Marie. Instead, Marie blows up her arm.
And then Homelander (Antony Starr) shows up.
The all-powerful Supe was called by Ashley, and true to form he lands in the middle of campus, posing right in front of his own statue. Marie, thinking she saved the day goes to talk to Homelander, but he gives her a little wag of his finger to warn her to stop talking.
“What kind of animal are you?” Homelander says. Marie is confused, but he continues, “Do you like attacking your own kind?” As Marie, stammering, protests, Homelander tells the crowd, “Stay back.”
…And then he proceeds to heat vision Marie right in the stomach, and the show cuts to black. Yikes!
We’re left to sit with that for a moment, as a news report by Cameron Coleman (Matthew Edison) explains that Marie, Emma, Jordan, and Andre caused the anarchy on the Godolkin campus. And the new Guardians of Godolkin, who stopped them, are Cate and Sam. Homelander watches from The Seven headquarters in Vought Tower and smiles.
But wait, we’re not done yet! Marie wakes up in a white room with no doors, in a hospital gown. Jordan, Emma and Andre are also there, and Andre tells her she took Homelander’s blast “like a champ.”
“Where are we?” Marie says, and we cut to credits.
So, what’s going on here? We’ll leave the speculation for where our Core Four are below, but the short version is that Homelander, who killed a human in plain sight in The Boys Season 3 finale, has managed to spin the whole event to make those who kill their fellow Supes the villains; and those who were fighting for Supe rights (aka Cate and Sam) the heroes. I guess Cate was right, after all: she is a hero.
Is There A Gen V Season 1 Finale End Credits Scene?
Yep, there sure is. After the main credits, we see someone working their way through the wreckage of The Woods. And why look, it’s none other than special guest star Karl Urban as The Boys‘ Billy Butcher. When Mallory (Laila Robbins) called someone in Episode 7 to keep their eyes on Dean Shetty, it’s clear she was calling Butcher.
“What a load of cunts,” Butcher says, and we cut to black, anxiously anticipating the next season of Gen V, and The Boys.
What Does The Gen V Episode 8 Ending Mean For Gen V Season 2?
It’s actually fairly wide open where the show could go in Season 2. Yes, we could go back to Godolkin University, but it’s just as possible the show might widen out to include more of the world. After all, the series is about how teens and twenty-somethings deal with life in a world with superheroes, not necessarily the college experience.
Also, how will Cate, who is now down an arm and relatively unhinged, and Sam, who had his emotions taken away by Cate, deal with being the new faces of Godolkin? Not well, I’d expect. Cate probably better than Sam, because she was essentially learning how to be in superhero communications anyway. But there’s a very good chance Sam might be using Cate like a drug to keep his emotions dulled. When they come back? Yuh-oh.
The big question, though, is where are Marie, Jordan, Andre and Emma? They could be in another wing of The Woods, right under Godolkin. They could be somewhere in Vought Tower, which we’ve seen in seasons of The Boys has multiple holding facilities. Or perhaps they’re somewhere entirely new. Wherever they are, we expect they won’t be in a doorless room for long when Season 2 picks up. As for what they’ll do when they get out of there? That’s TBD, too.
One final question for Season 2: we saw Emma shrink in the episode without bingeing, meaning her powers are most likely tied to her emotions — not food. That, too, should be an interesting thread to explore in the next season.
What Does The Gen V Season Finale Ending Mean For The Boys Season 4?
A lot of things, potentially. We know that Gen V‘s season finale is essentially doing a handoff to The Boys Season 4, and the end of The Boys Season 4 will do the same for Gen V Season 2. The two big things we expect will play into the new season if The Boys are Dr. Cardosa’s (Marco Pigossi) virus and Homelander’s new world order.
The virus, if you don’t remember from the last episode, kills Supes, and is communicable by bodily fluids. The only sample remaining is in the possession of Neuman, who is running for Vice President. There are a lot of ways the show could go here, including Superhero STD metaphor, and Superhero COVID metaphor. But it’s just as likely that if they public discovers Neuman has a Supe-killing virus in her possession, that could play into wild conspiracy theories that would throw the whole world into havoc.
As for Homelander? Yeah, that’s bad. He killed a human in broad daylight in The Boys Season 3 finale, and it has clearly activated a whole alt-right style Supe rights movement. With what happened at Godolkin, rather than suffering any consequences, it seems he’s become even more emboldened.
There’s one other element here to factor in, that might bring these two things together. Butcher found out he is dying in The Boys Season 3 finale. And now that he’s explored The Woods, he probably knows there’s a virus that potentially could kill every Supe on Earth. Will he confront Neuman and try to use it? We’ll have to wait and see.
When Will Gen V Season 2 Premiere On Prime Video?
This is extremely tricky to predict for several reasons we’ll get into in a second. But the good news is that Gen V already opened their Season 2 writers’ room back in January. Though this is speculation, given the WGA strike didn’t start until May, all of Gen V Season 2 may have already been written, under new, sole showrunner Michele Fazekas.
However, there are two other factors to consider. The first is that the SAG-AFTRA strike is ongoing, so until that’s settled Gen V can’t get into production — and even then, it would probably need at least a little bit of time to gear up.
The second is that the whole process for the first season was extremely long and convoluted. The show went through multiple iterations and recastings before it finally got into production in May of 2022. The season was then filmed until September of 2022. And as you’re probably aware, it wasn’t released until a year later. That’s atypical for these sorts of shows, which will usually have a six-month or so post-production period before they’re released.
We’d expect that Season 2, whenever it gets going, will be a little more typical in its roll-out, with the cast and sets, er, set. That said, 11 months or so is still a fair amount of time for this type of show, between production and post-production. So even if the SAG strike ended today, Gen V Season 2 wouldn’t be out until late 2024 at the earliest. And more likely we won’t see it until some time in 2025.
When Will The Boys Season 4 Premiere On Prime Video?
Much sooner than Gen V Season 2! The Boys Season 4 completed filming back on April 12, with showrunner Eric Kripke stating that the show would be held until after the writers’ strike. The strike’s over, Kripke. We’re waiting.
But seriously, the post-production time on seasons of The Boys has been much longer than the six months we noted above. Season 2 took about 11 months to release, and Seasons 1 and 3 took about nine months. It’s entirely possible The Boys Season 4 will come out as early as January 2024, based on that nine-month gap. However, previous seasons have been released either as a Summer, or Fall show. So it’s also possible it might be held for a while – possibly also to make the wait until Gen V Season 2 a little shorter. Regardless, expect The Boys Season 4 to hit Prime Video sometime next year.
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