Eric Kripke Explained Why 'The Boys' Spinoff 'Gen V' Was Really Cancelled
"I was fighting to keep the show, almost more than anybody else on Earth."
Published May 14 2026, 9:30 a.m. ET
The college-based spinoff of The Boys, Gen V, follows young supes as they train in hopes of one day joining The Seven. The Amazon Prime show, executive-produced by Craig Rosenberg, Goldberg, and Eric Kripke, was unfortunately cancelled ahead of its planned third season.
After hearing of the show's cancellation, disgruntled fans lashed out at The Boys creator Eric Kripke on social media. However, Eric told Entertainment Weekly that he did not make the decision to cancel the show, and, in fact, did everything he could to save it.
Why was 'Gen V' cancelled?
Gen V's cancellation essentially boiled down to viewership. While the first three episodes of Season 2 garnered enough viewers to place in Nielsen's Top 10 Streaming Originals, the show only made the list one more week during the season, according to Variety.
Eric told Entertainment Weekly, "I did not cancel the show. One, I don't have the power to do that ... Two, I was fighting to keep the show, almost more than anybody else on Earth. So I'm as bummed as everybody else out there."
Eric explained that Amazon made the decision to cancel Gen V, saying, "These things are based on business decisions that are above my pay grade ... It's based on [the] amount of viewers versus how expensive the show is to make, and 'Does it make business sense for them, ultimately?'"
"Unfortunately, they decided that it didn't," he concluded.
The idea for Season 3 of 'Gen V' may be included in another spinoff.
Characters from Gen V finally appear on-screen in the penultimate episode of The Boys' final season, and it might not be the last we see of them. Eric told Entertainment Weekly that he and his team are workshopping ways they could rework the concept they had planned for Gen V Season 3 and include it in one of The Boys' other spinoffs.
He said, "We're still hopeful we can find a way to do it. So, unfortunately, I can't share it." He hinted that the idea for Season 3 had to do with Marie's power and learning to control it.
Another The Boys spinoff, Vought Rising, is a prequel that is supposed to premiere in 2027. It will follow Soldier Boy and Stormfront during the 1950s. The Boys: Mexico is also in development.
Referring to the prospect of including storylines from Gen V's scrapped Season 3, Eric said, "It's very early days, because we're focusing on getting Vought Rising out into the world, but Amazon has expressed an interest, and they want to hear more potential stories in the world."
He continued: "We're internally brainstorming a couple different ideas. We'll see which ones get traction, but they all have the opportunity to absorb at least some of the Gen V gang, and that's very much by design."