Perhaps you’ve already seen the Season 4 finale of The Boys, which has received solid reviews so far, but if you haven’t, you might be surprised by a last-minute warning from the show and Prime Video’s official account following the assassination of former US President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump over the weekend.
According to IGN, the original title for Season 4, Episode 8 was “The Assassination,” which, despite the nature of the episode and all the foreshadowing the season had done to reach that plot point, was an unfortunate title to say the least. Now, Prime Video has dropped the title and shared an official statement regarding the main events depicted in the episode and the process behind it (and the lack of connection to real-life events).
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Of course, last weekend’s assassination attempt on Trump wasn’t the first time someone had fired shots at a U.S. president, and countless works of fiction have touched on this plot point, but you can never be sure, especially in an age of social media, fake outrages, and, more importantly, dangerously high tensions in the U.S. ahead of the next presidential election.
You can read the full statement shared by the show and Prime Video’s Instagram account here:
For now (and we know there may be a new title later), Amazon has renamed the series “Season 4 Finale” and added a “Viewer Caution Suggested” warning at the beginning. In past interviews, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke has said that the rise and many flaws of Homeland were meant to reflect Trump’s rise to the White House, his misconduct, and the legal case against him.
This is yet another case of creative intent going one way while the company goes the other, trying to protect itself from outside criticism that might come from a work of fiction that they themselves funded. I’d like to believe that most people are able to read and analyze fiction and any real-life parallels like normal adults, but recent pop culture discourse (and reactionary changes made by studios to save face) often tells us otherwise. I guess we should be happy that The Boys Season 4 finale wasn’t delayed and cut in post-production.
The Boys will likely return for its fifth and final season in 2026, and while some of the cast have been calling for the show to be brought to the big screen, we hope that doesn’t happen.
