Shocking cameos, new characters, emotional tributes: 5 biggest takeaways from ‘Gen V' Season 2 panel at Comic-Con

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4 days ago

The second season of Gen V is all about leveling up.
Fans of The Boys universe packed Ballroom 20 on Friday as Prime Video hosted the first-ever San Diego Comic-Con panel for Gen V. Showrunner Michele Fazekas and cast members Jaz Sinclair (Marie Moreau), Maddie Phillips (Cate Dunlap), London Thor (female Jordan Li), Derek Luh (male Jordan Li), and Hamish Linklater (Dean Cipher) answered questions from moderator and franchise star P.J. Byrne, who stayed in character the entire time as his narcissistic director, Adam Bourke.
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Here are the five biggest takeaways we learned about Gen V Season 2 at Comic-Con.
The Boys Cameos
The official trailer for the second season of the spin-off series was screened for the crowd, with Dean Cipher's ominous quote, "You can all level up under the right amount of pressure," being of key interest for fans. The two-minute video also teased three shocking The Boys cameos from Erin Moriarty (Annie January / Starlight), Chace Crawford (Kevin Moskowitz / The Deep), and Nathan Mitchell (Black Noir II). Watch it here:
Since Gen V and The Boys constantly "talk to each other," that means fans of Gen V will get to see how the country and the university have changed now that Antony Starr's Homelander has "taken over America," Fazekas explained. The spin-off will also explore "what the resistance is going to start looking like," including where some of your favorite characters from The Boys ended up after that fourth-season finale. "There will be some important cameos [and] answers to that."
An Emotional Tribute
Season 1 actor Chance Perdomo, who played Andre Anderson, a student with the power of magnetism, tragically died in 2024 at age 27 in a motorcycle crash. The producers decided to write his character out of the show, rather than recast him. Andre is alluded to in the new trailer by Sean Patrick Thomas, who has been promoted to series regular status for his role of Andre's dad, Polarity. "For Andre," he says through tears at the one-minute mark.
New Characters
Two cast additions were confirmed at Comic-Con: Zach McGowan's Dogknott, who gets taken out by Annie January in the trailer, and Ethan Slater's Thomas Godolkin, the namesake of the super-powered university where all the action takes place. Shameless viewers will no doubt recognize McGowan from his role of Jody, and Slater was most recently seen on the big screen in the Wicked film as Boq Woodsman.
Leveling Up
In addition to Dean Cipher's "level up" quote in the trailer, Fazekas teased more about that overarching Season 2 theme, claiming, "There's gonna be a lot of different types of leveling up. So, some people are going to level up their superpowers, and some people are going to emotionally level up, or figure out something new about themselves and lose control." She turned to the cast and added, "Yeah, you guys all lose control at one point or another."
Top Cast Quotes
"It is f---ing incredible seeing all of your pretty faces," Luh said. He stood up and shouted, "SDCC!" and then threatened to take his "shirt off" with Byrne as the audience cheered him on. "Should we do it? I'm gonna do it!" For the record, Luh ended up removing his jacket, which you can watch in the video below:
Sinclair recalled falling "in love with Marie immediately" when she first read the pilot script. "They gave me dummy sides, it wasn't even real material, but she is determined to get into the school, and refuses to take no for an answer. She was super scrappy and kind of desperate, and I just really loved her tenacity from the beginning," raved the actress.
Linklater was mostly tight-lipped about his new villainous character, Dean Cipher, the Head of Academics. "I can't tell you anything about him ... but I had one question from Reddit, which was, would my Dean beat the old Dean [played by Shelley Conn]? They said, 'You're gonna have to act pretty darn hard.'" The actor then joked, "I love overacting, so I said yes!"
That's a wrap!
Following the panel, Fazekas and the cast attended Vought-A-Burger, The Boys-inspired fast food joint, at Comic-Con's Sony Pictures Television booth. They won fun prizes playing the Gen V claw machine, and met with some of their biggest fans.
The first three episodes of Gen V Season 2 will premiere on Sept. 17 on Prime Video. Season 1 is available to stream now, as are Seasons 1-4 of The Boys.
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