How does Gen V connect to The Boys?

The Boys is a blood-spattered gift that keeps on giving. Prime Video’s ultra-violent satirical superhero series, based on the comics of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, has already spawned one spin-off (The Boys Presents: Diabolical) and is about to expand again. Gen V, the college-set offshoot, premieres September 29. And while it was easy to explain how Diabolical fit into the world of The Boys (short version: it doesn’t, because it’s mostly not canon), Gen V has direct ties to the main series. Creator Eric Kripke told Deadline that “some of the issues and storylines in season three hand off to the first season in [Gen V].” Here’s how everything fits together.

How does Gen V connect to the comics?

Gen V is very, very loosely inspired by the “We Gotta Go Now” arc from the comics. The show and the storyline actually seem to share little in common, with only broad themes carrying over to the show.

In the comic arc, Hughie infiltrates G-Wiz, a frat-like group of young superheroes put together by a man named John Godolkin. G-Wiz is just one of Godolkin’s “G-Teams”; there’s also the G-Men, G-Style, G-Coast, and several others. Godolkin has a partnership with Vought-American, the defense company that created the superhero-making drug Compound V, to promote and support his teams. Vought owns several superhero teams, including the Seven, the main crew featured in The Boys. But because Vought doesn’t directly own Godolkin’s G-Teams, he has a certain amount of latitude to do whatever he wants, which is a problem as he becomes increasingly unstable. The G-Men are Vought’s most profitable and popular unit, though, so they can’t do anything to piss off Godolkin without severely cutting into their profit margin, which is just about the only thing Vought actually cares about.

As “We Gotta Go Now” progresses, Hughie discovers Godolkin and the rest of the G-Teams are hiding some truly horrific secrets. It’s bad enough that Vought eventually comes in and kills them all because they’re too much of a liability. Even for The Boys, “We Gotta Go Now” is dark, so it’s not surprising that the show is going in an entirely different direction.

Kripke told The Wrap that Gen V is “loosely inspired by an element of the comics, which is the G-Men. Part of the G-Men is there’s sort of an educational, college experience. And we just used that as a jumping-off point, kind of similar to The Boys, where we sort of take an initial notion and then we are going to run with it in our own weird direction.”

In practice, that means Gen V is set at Godolkin University, a for-profit supes-only college owned and operated by Vought. The students compete for the top spots on the school’s leaderboard, which ranks them based on several factors, including skills, branding, and personality. The supes ranked highest have the best chance of landing a prime contract when they graduate. The series follows freshman Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), who can manipulate and weaponize blood, as she uncovers a conspiracy at Godolkin. Emma Meyer (Lizzie Broadway) is her roommate, and Luke Riordan, a.k.a. Golden Boy (Patrick Schwarzenegger), is at the top of the school’s leaderboard, with Jordan Li (Derek Luh and London Thor) and Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo) close behind him.

How is Gen V tied to the TV show?

Gen V takes place between seasons three and four of The Boys. According to the series’ X account, that means “the kiddos at God U all saw Homelander laser a guy’s head off to the sound of thunderous applause.” They’re also the first generation to know that their superpowers come from Compound V rather than divine intervention. The world they’re growing up in—and the one they’ll be entering when they graduate—is vastly different from what the older generation of supes experienced.

And, thanks to one of the major storylines crossing over from The Boys, the political landscape could be wildly different, too. At the end of season three, we learned that Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) is actually a supe and the adopted daughter of Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito), the CEO of Vought. Neuman deposes Edgar, leaving Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) as acting head of the company.

Congresswoman Neuman is one of several characters from The Boys who will also appear in Gen V. She’s making a campaign stop at Godolkin as part of her bid for Vice President of the United States. If she and Presidential candidate Robert “Dakota Bob” Singer win the election (which we’re guessing they probably will—they won in the comics, after all), there will be a morally bankrupt secret supe assassin in the second highest position of governmental power in the United States. That storyline will likely play out in season four of The Boys, while the campaign unfolds in the background of Gen V.

Another character crossing over to Gen V is Ashley, who seems awfully intent on covering up whatever is going on in “the Woods,” some sort of secret area at Godolkin University. Given Prime Video’s comparison of the series to The Hunger Games, it’s probably pretty gruesome. A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) and The Deep (Chace Crawford), both members of the Seven, will also appear in Gen V. What role they’ll play in the plot remains unknown. (They could be just quick cameos as alumni visiting the school, or they could be helping Ashley protect the Woods.)

The most curious confirmed crossover, though, is Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, who was put into cryogenic stasis at the end of The Boys’ third season. Since Gen V takes place between seasons three and four, unless his cameo is a flashback, it’ll have major implications for future installments of The Boys. Gen V, while having its own significant plot, will build and expand on the lore that The Boys has already established, making its universe even richer before season four.