The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke reveals that a major supe will return to the show after being seemingly written off in the season 3 finale.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Boys season 3’s finale
The Boys EP Eric Kripke has revealed if Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) will return after her apparent exit in season 3. The disruptive and darkly humorous Prime Video superhero show focuses on the eponymous band of vigilantes as they join forces to take down The Seven, a team of corrupt and commercialized superheroes, and Vought International, their corporatist licensing conglomerate. Premiering in 2019, The Boys has grown to become one of the most successful shows of its era, earning rave reviews and landing prestigious awards nominations. Season 3 ended its eight-episode run on Friday, July 8, 2022, and The Boys season 4 will begin filming in August.
As fans and critics both note, The Boys season 3 finale was divisive. The episode still delivered some satisfying conclusions to various subplots, with Maeve’s arc probably being fleshed out in the best way. Once Maeve realizes that Soldier Boy could kill everyone in his vicinity, she jumps out of the window with him, braving his energy blast to protect her allies. While the public presumes she is dead, Maeve is later revealed to be alive, although she has lost all her powers in the process. Free from the supe curse, Maeve reunites with her girlfriend Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude) and tells Starlight (Erin Moriarty) that she will be starting life afresh in a faraway town where Homelander couldn’t find her. With that, it seems that Maeve’s role in The Boys is over, although her open-ended exit might not necessarily be permanent.
Now, in an interview with TVLine, Kripke has opened up about if viewers have seen the last of Maeve in The Boys. The EP acknowledges that with the way things ended for Maeve, the character will be away from the show for a while. But considering that she is alive and still out there, there is always a chance for her to return to the show in the future. In fact, Kripke insists that Maeve will surely be back ahead of the show’s conclusion, as “the series will definitely not end without seeing Maeve again.”
The Boys took a very different route for its approach to Maeve’s fate than the original comics. In the comic strip, Maeve heroically dies after sacrificing herself to save Starlight from Homelander. But Kripke did not want that for Maeve in The Boys. He emphasizes that despite its violence and gore, The Boys does have a moral ground, and since Maeve made the right choices, there was never a plan to kill her off, so her happy ending was quite well-deserved. Additionally, Kripke is aware of and against the Bury Your Gays trope in TV shows and movies; hence it didn’t make sense to him for The Boys to aimlessly kill off Maeve, who is bisexual, when she can logically have a better future.
For the while that she is gone, Maeve will surely be missed in The Boys. Yet, despite her absence, it is heartwarming to see that her growth warranted a better life for her, and now she is finally free, and with the person she loves. That said, it will be interesting to see how The Boys brings Maeve back before its ultimate finale. Although she is in a happy place now, Maeve is at a disadvantage after losing her strengths. So if she resurfaces at any point in the future, there is always the chance that she will fall victim to Homelander’s barbarity. But considering that Kripke and The Boys writers want only good things for Maeve, it’s presumable that they will only bring her back in a different capacity – one where she doesn’t become a burden on those around her. Rather, before the show ends, The Boys might resolve Maeve and Billy’s romantic tryst, and give Maeve a new purpose and strength.
Source: TVLine
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