The Boys won’t be back for its fifth and final season (with an upgraded Ashley and an off-the-grid A-Train) until 2026, but we won’t be without screwed-up Supes for too long. Gen V will return for a second season in 2025, and Amazon’s other debauched superhero world, Invincible, should close its current season gap in shorter order than last time. Voice work was finished in April for a third season, and a fourth season is already in the works, too.
Invincible still counts as yet another reason why Steven Yeun is enjoying the best post-The Walking Dead career of the bunch, and with this Prime Video/Amazon series, Yeun is still keeping the Robert Kirkman comic book fires burning hot in adaptation form. Let’s talk about what to expect from the next season, including insights from Kirkman himself.
Plot
As viewers are aware, the last time that we were waiting for more Invincible, this involved learning the outcome of a climactic fight between Mark Grayson/Invincible (Yeun) and his bad dad, Nolan/Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons), who was off-site for most practical purposes in the second season. However, Robert Kirkman has revealed to Variety that “[h]e’s gonna be in Season 3 a little more,” but don’t expect the balance of screen time to change because “this is the Mark Grayson-Invincible show; it’s not the Omni-Man show.” Additionally, Kirkman previously revealed that Cecil Stedman’s backstory will surface in the third season.
At the recent San Diego Comic-Con, Kirkman elaborated more by promising that although the third season will bring many aspects of the show to a climax, this won’t be a series finale although it might feel like one. We’ve gotta believe Kirkman because Amazon already let the world know that the fourth season is coming, but on the more immediate horizon, Season 3 could contain perhaps too many major developments. That’s certainly better than the alternative prospect, and Games Radar quotes Kirkman:
“The stakes of the season are really high and the content of the season is really dense. So we’ve set up a lot of stories in season 1 and season 2 that are kind of coming to a head in season three. And so in a lot of ways, every episode does kind of feel like a finale. There’s something big about every episode, there’s a massive conclusion in every episode, there’s some kind of huge evolution of a character or story turn that happens in every episode. I’m really excited to finally get to see season 3 because it’s gonna be crazy.”
Variety adds that Kirkman also teased, “But Season 4 dwarfs Season 3 in a lot of really crazy ways. It’s an escalating show where each season is going to be bigger, crazier, more intense, and that stuff really kicks off with Season 3.” In other words, hold onto your spandex pants. Speaking of which, Mark’s black-and-blue suit will make its entrance in the third season, which will “reflect” the “different headspace” of the protagonist after what he’s processed about his father attempting to help the Viltrum Empire take over Earth and (not to diminish this part) having another family elsewhere in the galaxy.
That provides a convenient segue for another Kirkman revelation: Oliver/Kid Omni-Man (the son of Nolan and Andressa) will grow up rapidly because of his Thraxan heritage, and there are of course more moving parts to this series than we can practically address here, but the most promising news, perhaps, is that Kirkman has admitted that the split-season approach of the second season was “not the best” method for viewers. That wasn’t a promise to avoid split seasons in the future, but that sentiment does sound positive.
Cast
The cast continues to be a who’s-who of worthy celebrity voice talent with Steven Yeun (Mark Grayson/Invincible), J.K. Simmons (Nolan Grayson/Omni-Man), and Sandra Oh (Debbie Grayson) leading the central broken-family dynamic. Additional cast members still include Seth Rogen (Allen, the Alien), Sterling K. Brown (Angstrom Levy), Zazie Beetz (Amber Bennett), Jason Mantzoukas (Rex Sloan/Rex Splode), Walton Goggins (Cecil Stedman), Zachary Quinto (Robot), Gillian Jacobs (Eve Wilkins/Atom Eve)…
[Pausing to catch breath]
… Ross Marquand (The Immortal, Aquarius, Omnipotus, Kursk, Proprietor), Scoot McNairy (King Lizard), Kevin Michael Richardson (the Mauler Twins), Daveed Diggs (Theo), Calista Flockhart (April), Lea Thompson (Carol), Tatiana Maslany (General Telia and Queen Aquaria), and Ben Schwartz (Shapesmith).
Release Date
The second season only arrived earlier this year, so it seems unbelievable that the show could return in less than two years, give its previous gap in release dates. However, Comic Book reported word from Ross Marquand, who believed that “it’s probably going to be early next year” because “[W]e’re almost wrapped.” The show did confirm that voice work was completed back in April, so perhaps early 2025 isn’t too optimistic of a window.
With that said, Amazon has not confirmed an actual release window, but if it’s any consolation regarding the show’s future, Kirkman told Variety that the series should continue far beyond the currently-in-process third and fourth seasons: “I feel like we’re just getting started. I’m very hopeful that this show can be around for awhile.”
Trailer
Since no trailer has been released yet, it’s not a bad time to enjoy this peek at Seth Rogen in the voice booth as Allen.
