Eric Kripke on why season 5 will be the end of “The Boys”

"I'm excited to finally execute a 5-season plan," Kripke says.

Eric Kripke is the man with a five-season plan.

The Boys creator recently announced that the fifth season of the hit superhero series will be its last. The announcement came right before the premiere of season 4, which sees Jeffrey Dean Morgan join in on the fun just as Homelander (Antony Starr) really takes things to another level. (Season 4 premieres June 13 on Prime Video.)

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Kripke's announcement read: "#TheBoys Season 4 Premiere Week is a good time to announce: Season 5 will be the Final Season! Always my plan, I just had to be cagey till I got the final OK from Vought. Thrilled to bring the story to a gory, epic, moist climax. Watch Season 4 in 2 DAYS, cause the end has begun!"

"I'm excited to finally execute a 5-season plan," Kripke tells Entertainment Weekly, referencing the fact that he famously had a five-season plan for Supernatural before the show then continued on for another decade. "That's very exciting for me."

As for his reasoning, Kripke continues, "Part of it is such a wonky stupid screenwriter thing but three and five are the big magical numbers for writing. Three is movie acts, TV acts are five. Jokes are a runner of three for five. Five just seems like a good round number. It's enough to tell the story but also bring it to a climax without wearing out its welcome. It's been hard because I haven't been able to tell everyone. I was thrilled to finally be able to get the word out there."

Related: How The Boys season 4 finally recruited super fan Jeffrey Dean Morgan

And yes, season 4 will very much feel like a penultimate season. "That was part of my argument: No one can watch this season without feeling at the end like 'It's ending next year right?' So we might as well announce it so people can watch it with that cool epic heading-toward-the-end feeling, which is what I'm hoping for."

Related: Eric Kripke clarifies The Boys: Mexico spinoff is 'a while away' from being official (exclusive)

But just because The Boys is ending doesn't mean the universe is done expanding. "This story of The Boys will not continue on," he says. "With any luck, Gen V will continue on, there will be hopefully a couple others in development that we're talking about that can continue on, but The Boys story ends in season 5."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.