The Boys Officially Returning With New Series Means Starlight's Story Isn't Over

The Boys is over, but it really isn’t. Prime Video will release prequel spinoff Vought Rising in 2027, and a separate spinoff based in Mexico is being developed behind the scenes. Elsewhere, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke has openly discussed his intention to continue the Gen V storyline in future releases, which further proves that The Boys‘ 2026 ending was merely the conclusion of a single chapter in a much larger book.

Nevertheless, The Boys season 5 did provide a definitive end point for most of the main cast: Homelander, Billy Butcher, Kimiko, The Deep, etc. Happy endings were rare, but The Boys reserved one of them for Annie January. The show’s closing moments showed Erin Moriarty’s Starlight happily pregnant, but also scratching her itch for justice by fighting crime as an independent superhero vigilante. Starlight’s ending was one of love, family, and fulfillment, bringing her narrative to a satisfying close.

Alas, Starlight’s peaceful era might be subject to delay. At a glance, Starlight doesn’t have an obvious role in any of The Boys‘ upcoming projects, since Vought Rising’s 1950s setting comes way before Annie’s birth, and Mexico is far away from her home of New York City. Looking more closely at The Boys‘ unresolved storylines and future plans, however, Starlight’s return doesn’t just look plausible, it looks inevitable.

The Boys Is Almost Certainly Doing A Sequel Storyline In Some Form

The Boys‘ series finale was more or less a conclusive ending, but quite clearly left seeds planted for a sequel. Most obviously, Soldier Boy returned to his ice box, ready to be thawed out further down the line. With Stan Edgar retaking control of Vought and numerous supes on the loose, the threat of superhuman villains is far from over, and The Boys‘ final season even included a moment where Edgar admitted to MM that a Vought comeback was his masterplan all along. After a period of rebuilding and regrouping, it feels like Edgar will simply try again, finding his next Homelander and attempting to restore Vought into a dominant force over American society and politics.

Those seeds could begin bearing fruit as soon as Vought Rising. While the series is predominantly set in the 1950s, focusing on Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy and Aya Cash’s Stormfront (then known as Liberty) in the early days of Vought, it’s entirely possible that the spinoff will also include a present-day timeline. Soldier Boy’s chilly, unresolved fate is the biggest sign, but when asked directly about Vought Rising, Eric Kripke raised suspicion by promising the spinoff would answer questions from the main show’s finale.

Crucially, The Boys still has questions to answer about Stormfront too. Years of theories about her survival were stoked further when Soldier Boy himself claimed it would be out of character for his ex-lover to take her own life, asking Homelander whether he ever actually glimpsed Stormfront’s body. He didn’t, and nor did the audience.

It cannot be a coincidence that the only two main characters in The Boys whose fates are unclear at the end are also the two main stars of Vought Rising. At this point, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the spinoff showed Soldier Boy being revived by a secretly-not-dead Stormfront.

Starlight Can’t NOT Get Involved If Soldier Boy & Starlight Team Up In 2027

The Boys‘ finale makes it very clear that Hughie Campbell is retired from saving the world. His flat-out rejection of President Singer’s job offer proves as much. Starlight, meanwhile, is now working on the ‘bank robberies and burning buildings’ level rather than ‘bringing down omnipotent dictators.’

There are plenty of dangerous supes still alive, but none of them are even close to Homelander’s level, and none of them possess the same hunger to take over the world. More importantly, Starlight’s parting conversation with Marie Moreau was a ‘passing the torch’ moment. Without saying so directly, Starlight effectively told the young supe, “Leave Homelander to me. You need to lead the fight one day.” And, given that Marie is most likely the strongest supe alive when The Boys ends, the world looks to be in safe hands.

But it would be a very different story if Stormfront returned and partnered up with Soldier Boy. In that scenario, it’s difficult to see how Starlight could ignore the threat, not just on a personal level after her fight against Stormfront in season 2, but also in terms of making sure her child has a safe world in which to grow up in.

Soldier Boy alone wouldn’t give cause for concern. Left to his own devices, Homelander’s dad would likely find a quiet corner of the world and indulge his vices without a care. Stormfront, however, has always been driven by her evil ideology, the spirit of 1930s Germany coursing through her veins. If Soldier Boy loved Stormfront as much as he appears to, he’ll undoubtedly serve her cause without putting up a fight.

As powerful as the younger generation is, Stormfront and Soldier Boy could prove too strong for the Gen V crew to tackle alone. With Ryan losing his powers in The Boys‘ final episode, only Starlight could save the day. In any situation where Stormfront and Soldier Boy appear in a Vought Rising sequel storyline, therefore, Erin Moriarty’s Starlight might not be too far behind them.

Vought Rising Can Also Bring Back MM After The Boys’ Ending

Ryan at MM's wedding in The Boys finale — Ryan at MM’s wedding in The Boys finale

The Boys got MM’s ending right, allowing him to live happily ever after with his family after five seasons of thankless struggle. The only facet of MM’s journey that went unfulfilled was his enduring grudge against Soldier Boy. MM believed he had finally secured revenge in The Boys season 3, but Soldier Boy’s return two seasons later proved otherwise, and Mr. Milk was less than thrilled about seeing his nemesis again. Homelander putting his dad back on ice appeared to nix any hope that MM could finally avenge his father.

Vought Rising bringing Soldier Boy back to the present would give MM one final chance to complete his story.

MM’s status is similar to Hughie’s in the sense that his supe-fighting days are very much over, but presented with the combined threat of Stormfront and Soldier Boy, even he couldn’t look the other way, especially if his old friend Annie was heading back into the fight. Ending Vought Rising with Starlight beating Stormfront and MM beating Soldier Boy would resolve two of the most infuriating threads left dangling after The Boys.