The superhero genre continues to be wildly popular, although certain titles stand from the rest. The Boys and its spinoff Gen V are definitely on that list, as those with an Amazon Prime subscription have been treated to a gory dark comedy about what heroes would like in the real world. The second season of the latter show is finally here, and it turns out Andre’s story was greatly changed as a result of Chance Perdomo’s death. Let’s break it all down.
Gen V Season 2 has officially begun, offering connections to both the first season and The Boys‘ Season 4 finale. Those who tuned into the show found out that Andre was killed off in between seasons, as a result of break the group out of The Elmira Center. During an interview with Deadline, co-showrunner Michele Fazekas spoke about the challenges of finishing that character’s story in the wake of Perdomo’s passing. In her words:
We knew that we had to treat this like this character, as much as people have lost the real Chance, our people have lost Andre. And what does that look like in a world where it’s superheroes in college and a lot of ridiculous gore and funny? And so we just sort of made it like we wanted the season to certainly honor him, and then at the end, we realized the season is about him, everything, and all of the drive comes from him.
Talk about a stroke of genius. Rather than retconning Andre or moving on from the character’s death, his fate is actually key to the story of Gen V‘s second season. It’s the reason why our group of heroes are fractured when we meet them, and it’s also the motivation behind some of their heroic actions throughout Season 2. So the show found a way not only honor Perdomo but also move the narrative forward.
Andre was one of the bravest individuals in Gen V Season 1, using his powers of magnetism despite the negative affect it had on his health. It’s this previously established complications from his ability that was used as an explanation for the character’s death before Season 2.
Later in the same interview, Fazekas revealed that Andres’ story in Season 2 was pretty well established before Chance Perdomo’s death. So the writers and team had to sit down to decide how to continue the story, and handle the late actor’s character. In her words:
So, by the end, I was very sort of proud of that, and I just remember being in the writers’ room and talking about Andre—cause we had broken Andre’s story. We wrote like five episodes of Andre’s story, that after we came back after Chance died, we’re like, ‘OK, all of that is obviously gone.’ And it is a weird thing to grieve a fictitious character, but we did. We definitely did actually talked about it like, I think it’s OK to actually grieve something, cause you grow to love these characters as much as you love the people who are portraying them.
Talk about a change. While we’ve only been treated to the first few episodes of Season 2, I think Gen V really succeeded in honoring Perdomo and his character. We’ll just have to wait and see how much that legacy influences the rest of the season.
There are countless questions about the Boys spinoff, with some fans wondering if Patrick Schwarzenegger will be back in Season 2. Of course, the biggest question mark is how the show will influence the next season of The Boys, thanks to Homelander continuing to take power.
Gen V airs new episodes Wednesdays on Amazon as part of the 2025 TV schedule. And smart money says fans are going to be thinking about Chance Perdomo with each new one.
