The Boys’ Pre-Season 4 Spin-Off Finally Gets A Name

The Boys will obviously be back for another season, but there’s going to be another series spun out of the main show that’s going to be arriving first. For a while there, it had an awkward working title, The Boys Presents: Varsity, but now the college-based spin-off has an official name.

Gen V.

That may sound like some sort of YA teen drama about vampire Gen Z kids, but in this case, the V is of course for Vought, or rather their compound V which is what gives heroes their powers in this universe. Not sure if it’s “The Boys Presents: Gen V” but hopefully not. We get it, it’s a spin-off.

This show is actually going to be important for Boys fans to watch in between seasons 3 and 4, as it’s supposedly going to have connecting threads between the two. Here’s what showrunner Eric Kripke had to say about it:

“There’s definitely crossover, and we’re doing our best to design a universe that sees some of the issues and storylines in Season 3 hand off to the first season in Varsity. Like there’s a presidential campaign happening in the background of that season, and there’s certain things that are happening at that school that are both in reaction to Season 3 of The Boys. There’s Soldier Boy, etcetera, but also some new storylines that are happening in that season of the spinoff that we have to pick up and take into Season 4 of the show.”

As for the plot of the show, this is a cultivating campus for new college-age superheroes, and here’s the official description:

“Gen V is an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. It’s part college show, part ‘Hunger Games’ — with all the heart, satire, and raunch of ‘The Boys.’”

The cast list is…long. You may not know most of the names, but a few standout to me among the grand total, like Patrick Schwarzenegger, Arnold’s son, who was recently in HBO’s The Staircase. And also Maddie Phillips, whom you may have seen in Netflix’s Teenage Bounty Hunters, a role she landed almost immediately after Netflix’s rudely killed that show for no reason. Sabrina fans will recognize Jaz Sinclair and Chance Pedromo, more Netflix refugees.

It remains to be seen if Gen V will live up to the main show, as that’s always a challenge, especially since it won’t be Kripke running the day to day. I hope it’s good, given that more Boys content is always great, but I feel like it’s going to need a Homelander-style standout to really make an impression, not just blood and guts and sex, as it promises. We’ll have to see when it arrives later this year.

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