Fans of superhero black comedy show The Boys have plenty to celebrate, after it was all-but-confirmed that the upcoming season of the Amazon Prime Video smash hit won’t be its last.
Offering a satirical eye on modern America, while also putting a clever spin on familiar comic book archetypes, The Boys first hit screens back in 2019, and over the course of three seasons has gone on to become one of the best Prime Video shows.
Shooting for the fourth series has been underway for the past several months, with showrunner Eric Kripke taking to Twitter on Sunday to reveal that filming was about to start on its finale in Toronto.
A number of concerned fans then quizzed Kripke, asking as to whether he meant the show as a whole was coming to an end, before reassuring them with the news they had been hoping for.
Cause you're asking! We've been shooting since late August. I'm here to prep & direct the Season 4 finale. No, not the series finale, there will be more! Most importantly, S4 premieres... at some point in the future in our discernible reality. @PrimeVideo @SPTV https://t.co/UgNBPZKlCTFebruary 12, 2023
Earlier on his timeline, Kripke had revealed that the S4 finale episode was to be titled “Assassination Run”, adding that it was likely to premiere sometime later this year.
Analysis: Prime Video is right to keep a good thing going
While a welcome relief for fans, the news that we’re set for more of Karl Urban snarling the C-word every few minutes shouldn’t come as any great surprise.
The likes of The Terminal List and Reacher have all registered big viewing numbers in recent months, but there’s a real dearth of calling card shows currently on Amazon Prime compared to rivals Netflix, Disney Plus, and the growing roster of quality content on Apple TV Plus.
No better illustration of The Boys status as breakout hit status and its importance to Amazon came with the release of figures from data insights firm Nielsen last month, which revealed that the show had outperformed all of Marvel Studios' Disney+ series to become last year’s most-watched superhero program.
Ranked as the 11th most-watched original streaming show of any genre in 2022, while the show found itself behind ten big-name Netflix titles, it nevertheless managed to beat the likes of Disney Plus big guns Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk as well as Amazon’s own uber-budget Tolkien epic The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Upcoming superhero school spin-off series Gen V will likely keep fans of The Boys occupied in the meantime, but Amazon execs will no doubt be counting down the days until the next run of the main show is ready to roll and give Prime a much-needed boost over the other best streaming services.
For more content surrounding The Boys, read our in-depth chat with Kripke and the season 3 cast on the show's most recent installment.
