'The Boys' Prequel: Does Soldier Boy Actually Deserve A Spinoff?
The Boys (2019) is barreling toward an intense conclusion, but the show is already setting the stage for a spin-off. The superhero parody has evolved into one of TV’s most cutting political critiques, with plenty of gross-out humor and horrifying gore to balance out the surprisingly emotional moments and the heartbreaking turns. Along the way, the series has introduced plenty of terrific supporting characters, including some twisted villains like Aya Cash’s Stormfront in Season 2 and Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy in the show’s third and fifth seasons.
The pair is now poised to get their own spotlight in the upcoming show Vought Rising (2027), which delves into the early days of the titular villainous corporation and lays the seeds for the conspiracies that are very much at the core of the series. The fifth and final season of The Boys has even spent an extended period setting up the characters’ secret history as something of a backdoor pilot for the spin-off. However, given the inherent focus of that kind of spin-off, it might not be the best idea.
Soldier Boy Makes Sense As A Potential Spin-Off Focus For ‘The Boys’
Of all the potential directions to take The Boys franchise going forward, delving into the past makes a certain amount of sense. So much of The Boys has been focused on the battle against Homelander and the efforts to thwart his quest for complete power—with his genetic donor/quasi-father figure, Soldier Boy, serving as the show’s most unexpectedly compelling wildcard. Played by Jensen Ackles, Soldier Boy is a comically awful person. He also just has enough pitiful touches and interesting elements to make for a grimly intriguing protagonist.
The Boys Season 5 hints at his larger history and connections to other characters like Stormfront. This opens the door to an entirely different type of superhero parody and social satire that plays up the flaws of the “Greatest Generation” with the same gory vigor that The Boys has tackled modern mass media. There’s also more material from the original comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, especially related to its criticism of the military-industrial complex, which could give a Soldier Boy spin-off some real bite.
‘The Boys’ Doesn’t Need Another Spin-Off
The problem is that The Boys doesn’t really need another spin-off. It actually had a pretty great one in Gen V (2023), but the show was recently canceled. This suggests that The Boys’ finale will provide a solid sense of closure that doesn’t need expansion with new shows or stories. There’s something to be said for a story just being done. There’s also the inherent challenge of making prequels compelling when audiences are well aware of how certain storylines and characters will have to work out to retroactively fit alongside previous season storylines.
The Boys Season 5 has also been getting plenty of criticism from fans and critics who feel that too much of the season has been spent building up Soldier Boy as a more complex character when the real appeal of Ackles’ performance is seeing a different breed of toxic masculinity butt heads with Butcher, Hughie, and Homelander. Actually positioning him into more of a protagonist role risks removing the little bit of mystique that makes him a good contrast to the rest of the cast while also spending time making a genuinely heinous person seem at least somewhat sympathetic.
Why A Soldier Boy Prequel Is The Wrong Move For ‘The Boys’
As a fan of The Boys, I should be excited for the Soldier Boy spin-off. Ackles is a natural star, something that 15 seasons of Supernatural (2005) proved repeatedly. I’m also a huge fan of Aya Cash—shout-out to You’re The Worst (2014), one of TV’s best ever romantic dramedies. There’s a lot of room to dive into a new layer of social satire, with a willingness to go hard on the state of the world. However, I don’t think the show is right for right now.
Given the current political climate, a series where the awful American commando develops a romantic bond with a Nazi super soldier would lack a level of self-awareness that is key to The Boys’ impact as a mass media and political allegory. It would be a hard sell each week to return to terrible characters, something The Boys has tempered with charming characters like the rest of the Boys, in direct contrast to Butcher. It’s hard to imagine a Soldier Boy-led spin-off being able to keep a compelling, likable character in the lead role without audiences quickly growing tired of the premise.
Notably, other recent successful TV spin-offs, like Better Call Saul (2015), were able to use the expanded screen time to flesh out already established and beloved characters. Soldier Boy and Stormfront, while compelling, aren’t exactly beloved, making more focus on them feel unnecessary. Conversely, prequels, like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026), benefited from taking place completely removed from the characters audiences know, allowing a new cast to grab their attention and set up their own momentum.
At the end of the day, The Boys feels like it’s building to a solid conclusion. While there’s potential in exploring World War II era stories in this world, audiences excited about that prospect should just go read the comic series Über and let The Boys go out on (hopefully) a high note.
