Generations collide on The Boys’ latest episode, a sign of Homelander’s long-term ambitions.

In a conversation with Variety, showrunner Eric Kripke discussed the choice to bring Gen V‘s Cate Dunlap and Sam Riordan into Vought’s inner circle and how these cameos might tie into the spinoff’s upcoming season. As he explained, making Cate and Sam part of the D23-inspired V52 panel gave Homelander some degree of “cover to bring different superheroes close to him as he’s starting to put together this army. And it made sense that Cate, who is also a supe supremacist, would want to sign up for that. I think Sam is a little more reluctant, but he also doesn’t really speak up with his own opinions — he sort of needs to evolve into that still as a character.”

Story-wise, Cate and Sam only appeared in a few scenes of “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son,” with the “Guardians of Godolkin” announcing their new Vought film before later participating in the attack on Vought News Network pundit Cameron Coleman, whom Ashley Barrett framed to cover up A-Train’s season 4 actions.

Gen V Character Cameos in The Boys Season 4 Explained

Thematically, however, Kripke described their new allegiances to the Seven as an extension of Vought’s media manipulation over Gen V‘s events, covering up the Godolkin University murders by framing Marie Moreau and her allies for Cat and Sam’s crimes. Thus, he added, “the villains of that day” are publicly “packaged by Vought to be the heroes, and are given a movie and given new levels of fame, whereas the true heroes of that day are locked up in some undisclosed location that’ll be revealed for Gen V Season 2. Just our similar message that being a hero is usually an unsung, thankless thing, and when you’re held up in front of everyone as a hero, you’re usually anything but.”

Along with those cameos, The Boys officially tied Gen V‘s virus subplot into its main storyline, with Billy Butcher and his former team investigating a farm where the virus was tested on multiple homicidal animals. Despite surviving the creatures alongside ex-Vought CEO Stan Edgar and Vice President Victoria Neuman, the final moments revealed that Butcher kidnapped Neuman’s husband Sameer Shah to make more virus for him and Kessler, even cutting off Shah’s leg to cover his tracks. It remains to be seen, however, how the virus will tie into The Boys‘ narrative endgame, with Amazon renewing Kripke’s series for one more season right before season 4 premiered.

Gen V season 2 is currently in production, with Kripke confirming that the spinoff will kill supporting character Andre Anderson rather than recast Chance Perdomo in the wake of his passing. In a separate interview, he revealed that another spinoff, The Boys: Mexico, is still being written.

New The Boys season 4 episodes stream on Thursdays on Prime Video.