Gen V Season 2 review: Hamish Linklater steals the show as The Boys’ spinoff trades freshness for familiarity

Picking up after The Boys season four, the fallout reaches even Godolkin. A new dean takes charge, reshaping the university from a playground of ambition into something more militaristic. Stardom is still dangled before the students, but the real project is conditioning them as weapons. On paper, this speaks to the anxieties of the present—surveillance, institutional control, the weaponisation of youth. On screen, the execution falters, often more blunt than incisive.

A still from Gen V season 2

That’s not to say the show has lost its ability to entertain. Its gore remains gleefully outrageous, its humour still plays with the absurdities of contemporary culture. Jokes about Elon Musk or influencer jargon pepper the season, some landing with a perfectly wicked sting, others clanging with the desperation of a meme that’s already out of circulation. Where The Boys skewered politics and celebrity with razor precision, Gen V Season 2 sometimes feels like it’s winking too hard at its own audience, more interested in the nod of recognition than in the discomfort that satire should provoke.

What rescues the season from drowning in its own familiarity is the arrival of Dean Cipher, played with unnerving brilliance by Hamish Linklater. Cipher isn’t a villain in the moustache-twirling sense; he’s something far more insidious, a figure who blends charm and menace with alarming ease. His presence injects the show with an energy it sorely needs, his authority looming over every character and every decision. Cipher is not just an antagonist, he’s a symbol of the very forces reshaping Godolkin, an embodiment of how power manipulates rather than merely commands. Linklater plays him with such unsettling confidence that even the season’s slower stretches feel charged when he’s on screen.

At the other end of the spectrum is Marie Moreau, who remains the emotional anchor of the series. Jaz Sinclair carries the season with an intensity that makes her character’s internal conflict feel painfully human. Her arc may be familiar, the hero wrestling with what her powers mean, with how much compromise she can stomach, but Sinclair renders it compelling with sheer presence. When the writing risks sliding into cliché, it is her performance that keeps the stakes alive.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for much of the ensemble. Characters who once felt layered are reduced this time around to flatter versions of themselves. Jordan Li (London Thor/Derek Luh), who in the first season embodied a fascinating exploration of fluid identity, suffers from an arc that feels hastily sketched and disappointingly shallow. Others are left adrift, one-dimensional foils rather than fully realised players in this morally complex universe. The absence of Chance Perdomo’s Andre Anderson is also palpable. The creative decision not to recast after the actor’s tragic passing is admirable, but the narrative recalibration leaves a void that the season struggles to fill.

Gen V season 2 trailer:

Still, Gen V Season 2 is not without its charms. When it leans into the chaos of campus life colliding with unchecked power, it still finds moments of irreverence and thrill. The grotesque creativity of its violence, the uneasy laughter that follows its most absurd set pieces, these are reminders that this universe, even in its spinoff form, has not run out of ways to disturb and amuse. But what made the first season feel fresh was its willingness to be both ridiculous and cutting, to find truth in the messy contradictions of teenage ambition and institutional control. This time, that freshness is dulled by the pressure to tether itself too tightly to The Boys and to service a larger narrative engine rather than telling its own story.

The second season of Gen V sits in an awkward middle space. It is neither a disaster nor a revelation. It is an entertaining, often intriguing follow-up that nevertheless lacks the edge and bite that made its first outing stand out. For every inspired sequence, there’s another that feels forced. For every sharp cultural jab, there’s one that lands with a thud. What lingers most are its flashes of brilliance, Hamish Linklater’s chilling turn, Jaz Sinclair’s steady gravitas, the occasional grotesque moment that jolts you out of your seat. They are enough to make the season watchable, even enjoyable. But they also serve as reminders of what’s missing.

Gen V Season 2
Gen V Season 2 Cast – Jaz Sinclair, Hamish Linklater, Lizze Broadway, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Sean Patrick Thomas, Chace Crawford
Gen V Season 2 Creator – Eric Kripke, Evan Goldberg, and Craig Rosenberg
Gen V Season 2 rating – 2.5/5