The Boys and Gen V timeline: where every season fits
With The Boys finished — the series finale, "Blood and Bone", landed on 20 May 2026 — the whole saga can finally be watched in order. The good news: release order is story order. The only trick is knowing where Gen V slots in.
The order to watch everything
- The Boys season 1 (2019) — Hughie loses Robin to A-Train and joins Butcher's crew; Starlight joins The Seven and sees the rot from inside.
- The Boys season 2 (2020) — Stormfront arrives, Homelander finds and loses an ally, and Butcher's war turns personal.
- Diabolical (2022, optional) — an animated anthology of shorts; a couple count as canon, most are just fun.
- The Boys season 3 (2022) — Soldier Boy wakes up, Temp V enters the picture, and Butcher starts paying for his powers.
- Gen V season 1 (2023) — set between The Boys seasons 3 and 4, at Vought's Godolkin University. Crucially, this is where the Supe-killing virus enters the story.
- The Boys season 4 (2024) — election chaos ends with Homelander effectively in charge: martial law declared, the Boys captured, and a dying Butcher transformed by his own tumour.
- Gen V season 2 (2025) — set after The Boys season 4, with Godolkin under the new regime. The Cipher mystery ends with founder Thomas Godolkin exposed, and the finale feeds directly into the endgame.
- The Boys season 5 (2026) — set about six months after Gen V season 2. Eight episodes, released weekly from 8 April to 20 May 2026, with Homelander chasing immortality through V1 while Butcher holds the virus that could wipe out every Supe alive.
Where Gen V fits, exactly
Gen V isn't optional viewing dressed up as a spin-off — it's load-bearing. Season 1's cliffhanger is picked up in the opening stretch of The Boys season 4, and the college characters carry the virus storyline that the final season is built on. Watch it in sequence, not afterwards. Showrunner Eric Kripke was clear about the destination when he announced the ending in 2024:
"Thrilled to bring the story to a gory, epic, moist climax."
What's still coming?
The main series is done and Gen V won't return — Amazon confirmed the spinoff's cancellation, so season 2 doubles as its ending. But the universe isn't closed. Vought Rising, a prequel set in the 1950s with Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy and Aya Cash's Stormfront, is on the way, and a Mexico-set spin-off has been in development.
For the record: the complete live-action saga runs to exactly 56 episodes — 40 of The Boys, 16 of Gen V. Diabolical is dessert.