Karl Urban Candidly Fires Back At The Boys Season 5 Criticisms Ahead Of Series Finale

Much like Billy Butcher, Karl Urban isn’t mincing words when it comes to criticisms of The Boys season 5.

While critics’ reviews for The Boys season 5 have been largely positive, the general fan reception has been negative, especially on social media. Some of the issues that viewers have shared about the final season of the Prime Video series include the amount of focus on Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), numerous episodes that have been deemed to be “filler,” and not having as many fight scenes as expected. This led to season 5, episode 7, “The Frenchman, The Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk” receiving the show’s all-time lowest rating on IMDb with a score of 6.5/10 as of this writing.

In a video criticizing The Boys season 5 from an Instagram account with the handle @soupypoop69, Urban commented, “Stupid ass humor? Son … Your handle is literally soupypoopy69 & FYI @erickripke1 wrote this s*** because it’s what Clara would have wanted.” The last part of Urban’s response is in reference to what Soldier Boy says in season 5, episode 6, “Though the Heavens Fall” when explaining why he is giving the V1 to Homelander (Antony Starr).

Laz Alonso, who plays Mother’s Milk, reacted to Urban’s comments with three laughing and crying face emojis. Other comments include noting how much Urban’s reaction sounds like Butcher, writing the character’s frequent line of “Oi,” repeating variations of the line about Clara, and sharing further criticisms of the season.

A common sentiment in fan reactions to Soldier Boy’s role in season 5 and his line about Clara is that it feels more focused on setting up The Boys spinoff prequel Vought Rising than concluding the original series, despite shaping the pivotal moment with Homelander being given the V1. Set in the 1950s, the upcoming series sees Ackles reprising the role of Soldier Boy decades earlier, along with Aya Cash returning to play Clara Vought, who was first introduced as Stormfront in The Boys season 2.

While the audience response is more negative than most seasons of The Boys, it follows the trajectory of other hit shows that ended in recent years. The final seasons of Game of Thrones, Squid Game, and Stranger Things were all heavily criticized by fans, even after years of acclaim and pop culture dominance. A Change.org petition to remake Game of Thrones season 8 went on to receive more than 1.8 million signatures, while a viral theory known as Conformity Gate convinced much of the internet that a secret Stranger Things episode was going to be released and be the real series finale.

The Boys season 5, episode 8, “Blood and Bone” acts as the series finale and has the potential to change some of the discourse. However, based on the reception to season 5 so far and what happened with Game of Thrones, Squid Game, and Stranger Things, the series finale will have a difficult time turning the reception in a different direction. With Vought Rising season 1 filming having wrapped and slated for a 2027 release, this won’t be the end of the Prime Video franchise, though, and The Boys: Mexico spinoff is also in development.

The Boys series finale releases Wednesday, May 20 at 3amET/12am PT on Prime Video.

Release Date

2019 – 2026-00-00

Showrunner

Eric Kripke

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