Which The Boys season is the worst? Critics gave it 95% — fans made it the first ever "Rotten" one
Five seasons, 40 episodes, one of Prime Video's biggest shows — and a Rotten Tomatoes gap wide enough to drive a Vought truck through. Depending on which score you look at, the answer to "worst season" changes completely. Here's how the numbers break down, as of August 2026.
Season 4, released on 13 June 2024. Critics scored it 95% off 77 reviews. Audiences dropped it to the low 50s — the first season in the show's history to earn a Rotten popcorn bucket. Season 5 later dipped into similar territory after its finale, but season 4 got there first.
Season by season
- Season 1 (2019) — 85% critics, 90% audience. The only season where audiences rated it higher than critics did.
- Season 2 (2020) — 97% critics, 83% audience.
- Season 3 (2022) — 98% critics, 75% audience. The critical peak.
- Season 4 (2024) — 95% critics, audience settling around 52–54%. A gap of over 40 points.
- Season 5 (2026) — opened at 100% with critics off 21 early reviews, finished in the 90s. Audience opened at 85% and fell through the run.
Audience scores move. Season 5's sat at 59% days after the finale on 21 May 2026, with some outlets clocking it as low as 52% — briefly below season 4's.
Why the split
The explanations don't agree with each other, which is part of what made it a story.
Some viewers complained about the writing shifting from satire to something blunter, about screen time going to side characters, and about plot inconsistencies. Others pointed to the season's political material, which by 2024 was less allegory than commentary. A separate group of fans argued the low score was review bombing rather than a verdict on the episodes.
Rotten Tomatoes doesn't distinguish between any of these, which is a limitation of the format rather than a reading of the audience.
What went wrong with the finale
Season 5 drew its own set of complaints: the Virus storyline, the abandoned Gen V thread, screen time spent setting up the prequel, and major turns handled off-screen. The finale, "Blood and Bone", split viewers the same way.
Critics didn't budge. Showrunner Eric Kripke wrote season 5 before the 2024 US election, as he told ScreenRant — which undercuts the theory that the final season was reacting to it.
For the record: the story isn't finished. Vought Rising, the prequel with Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy and Aya Cash returning as Klara Risinger, is due in 2027.