How The Boys' season 3 ending sets up season 4

But where do we leave the characters as season 3 wraps up? We break down the season finale ending below. Watch out for spoilers!

The Boys season 3 plot

First, the background. This season saw Butcher (Karl Urban) and Hughie (Jack Quaid) team up with long-lost superhero Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), a long-presumed-dead figure who agreed to kill Homelander for them if they helped him take revenge on his old team Payback.

The other Boys disagreed with the plan, but Butcher and Hughie went along with it anyway, coaxed along by a regular helping of “Temp V”, which gives them superpowers for 24 hours. Another spanner was thrown in the works when Soldier Boy realised Homelander was actually his son, created from his genetic material.

In the end, Soldier Boy came along with Butcher and Maeve (Dominique McElligott) to take on his son... and the final clash began.

The Boys season 3 finale

In an about-face, Soldier Boy decided he was disgusted by his newfound son’s “weakness” and began preparing to kill Homelander – but when Homelander’s own son Ryan tried to fight Soldier Boy off, the scuffle left Ryan injured and in his grandad’s sights.

To honour his promise to dead wife Becca, Butcher turns on Soldier Boy to protect Ryan – but Maeve didn’t want to abandon the plan, fighting Homelander hand-to-hand in an increasingly brutal clash (with some success).

Butcher had less luck with Soldier Boy after a while, but the arrival of Starlight (Erin Moriarty), MM (Laz Alonso) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) levelled the playing field. Thanks to Hughie raising the lights of the studio they were fighting in, Starlight was able to access a new level of power and knock Soldier Boy down, and the others restrained him and started to dose him with the nerve agent needed to knock him out.

But it wasn’t enough. Soldier Boy began to activate his nuclear ability, risking death to everyone – which finally inspired Maeve to give up on her campaign of revenge, leave an injured Homelander and tackle Soldier Boy out of the window of Vought Tower, saving the lives of her allies.

Was this the end of Queen Maeve? Well, yes and no…

The Boys ending explained

As it turns out, Maeve survived the fall – but like other heroes zapped by Soldier Boy’s power, her own strength has now gone. With the world believing her dead (and Vought quietly deleting the evidence that she survived) she can finally try to live a normal life.

Elsewhere, Butcher learns that he’s terminally ill after abusing Temp V for too long, and has just a few months to live. Back at the Boys’ headquarters, Starlight/Annie becomes an official member of the team, while Soldier Boy is put back into a regulated coma and locked away.

But it’s Homelander who really has the last laugh. After the battle, Ryan convinced him to walk away from Butcher, while finally starting to see things from his dad’s point of view. And in season 3’s final scene, he accompanies his dad to meet a few fans... and something different happens.

After a protestor throws something at Ryan, Homelander finally snaps and kills the "attacker" in public – but rather than be horrified, his fans cheer him on. Homelander realises that after years of censoring his homicidal impulses, he doesn’t have to any more – his fans love him regardless.

As they cheer him on, Ryan watches with a faintly troubled expression that gradually turns into a smile. While not stated outright, it’s implied he’s starting to see the advantages of being a powerful being in a world of humans.

How the finale sets up The Boys season 4

There were a few casualties in the finale, most notably longtime Seven member Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) who was killed by Homelander after revealing he’d known the truth about his parentage all along. Maeve was depowered, Soldier Boy was put in storage – going forward, it could be that the series is without a few key cast members.

It’s possible Maeve could return in her depowered state for season 4, but it certainly feels like the character has been given a gracious exit. Likewise Soldier Boy – technically Ackles could return, but it wouldn’t put anyone’s noses out of joint if the show turned to focus on a new threat instead.

Black Noir is the only character properly killed off... though who knows? Given his secretive identity, it’s possible Vought could just replace him with someone else in the suit, leaving the rest of the world none the wiser. Or maybe he survived his disembowelling? He survived a pretty traumatic head injury in the '80s, so he’s clearly a durable chap.

Of the remaining members of the Seven, the Deep (Chace Crawford) is mourning his failed marriage and a new scandal, while A-Train is ostracised by his family even as he regains his ability to run via heart transplant. Homelander is in the best shape of them all – Ryan has finally come to his side, and he appears to have realised he can be his authentic (terrible!) self without alienating his core fans.

Clearly the team will need some new members with Starlight gone too – so maybe we’ll see a new collection of supes joining the fray. Or maybe Homelander will decide he doesn’t need more teammates after all – we’ll just have to wait to see what direction the show goes in.

Starlight officially joining The Boys just as Butcher gets a terminal diagnosis (so he now really has nothing to lose) definitely opens up some intriguing new conflicts on the other side, and it could be that we’ll see yet more friction within their ranks come season 4.

Superpowered politician Victoria Neuman's (Claudia Doumit) nomination for Vice-President also offers some interesting storytelling opportunities, while tying in closer to the comics where the male “Vic the Veep” is a pro-supe mole working within the US Government.

Altogether, then, there’s absolutely loads of places The Boys could go in season 4. Ryan’s heel-turn, Butcher’s deterioration, Homelander’s new perspective and Annie’s role on the team open up lots of possibilities, and we’re sure there’ll also be plenty of surprises and guest stars to get to know.

It’s just a shame we have so long to wait until we see what comes next. The fans holding on for season 4? Truly, we're the real heroes.

The Boys season three is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video – sign up for Prime Video here. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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