‘Gen V’ Premiere Teases Homelander’s Fate in ‘The Boys’ Season 4

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the premiere episodes of Gen V.

The Boys Season 4 officially finished production in the spring, but due to the writers' strike, now over, and the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, it's unclear when Prime Video's gruesome superhero show will return. In the meantime, we have Gen V, the college-set spinoff from The Boys creative team.

The first three episodes of Gen V Season 1 launched on Friday and includes some important Easter eggs about what's happening in the larger The Boys universe. There's even a very specific hint about what's going on with Homelander (Antony Starr) after he murdered a civilian in broad daylight in The Boys Season 3 finale.

In Gen V Episode 2, at the 18:48 mark, Kate (Maddie Phillips) is scrolling through news videos on her phone and pauses on a "NNC" story about Homelander. The bottom chyron reads "HOMELANDER ON TRIAL?" as an anchor off-screen says, "...after brutally murdering an innocent protester." Kate quickly moves on to a fuller news piece from Vought News about Luke's (Patrick Schwarzenegger) death, but there's a lot to unpack in that quick Homelander clip.

First of all, "brutally" murdering an "innocent" protester is heavily editorialized language and indicates that NNC is an anti-supe, or at least anti-Homelander outlet. If Vought News is The Boys universe's Fox News, then perhaps NNC is their MSNBC or another liberal-leaning news outlet. Regardless, the fact that a major news outlet is commenting negatively on Homelander's actions implies that the incident won't just be swept under the rug when The Boys Season 4 premieres.

The next thing to discuss is the "ON TRIAL?" part. So far, we haven't seen a supe on trial. The question mark means that Homelander hasn't officially been arrested, but it also implies that legal action could be in the works. We sincerely doubt that Homelander would let himself be taken away in handcuffs. What prison could hold him?

Regardless of legal action, the Easter egg reveals that there is at least some public backlash against Homelander. That only brings up more questions about his ability to lead The Seven if he's now a controversial figure — and does he even care at this point? Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) is gone, and Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) is absolutely terrified of Homelander. (No judgment, girl. He's scary.) No one can stand up to him and make him back down, even if the public is against him and he's damaging Vought's image.

So far, the only way to keep Homelander in check is to threaten his pristine hero image. If he discovers that he can survive even if part of the public hates him, or worse, that he likes enraging people if everyone else fearfully reveres him, he will be unstoppably evil. None of the Gen V characters have shared their opinions on Homelander's protester-popping actions, but this little Easter egg still tells us that things will be very messy when The Boys officially returns for Season 4.

Gen V Episodes 1-3 are now available to stream on Prime Video. New episodes will be released every Friday until the finale on Nov. 3. The Boys Seasons 1-3 are also now available to stream.