The show's second season stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Kapon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, and Colby Minifie returning from the previous season, and Aya Cash joining the cast.
The conflict is worsened when Billy Butcher (Urban) learns that his wife Becca (Shantel VanSanten) is still alive and she is being held captive by Vought with a superpowered son fathered by Homelander (Starr).
Stormfront (Cash), a new superhero with a secret past, joins the Seven with the hopes of convincing an unwitting Homelander to lead Supes to world domination.
Greg Zajac, Anthony Lake, and Dylan Moscovitch also make cameo appearances for the fictional film within the series as pornographic impersonators of Homelander, Jack from Jupiter, and the Deep for the episode "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker".
Kym Wyatt McKenzie and Birgitte Solem appear as actors playing Butcher and Stillwell in a reenactment of the latter's death for the episode "The Big Ride".
[22] Kripke considered that the season had many moments that he wanted to give time to marinate in order to make people reflect over it and have a conversation a little longer about it.
[27] The fate of Becca's son whose name is revealed to be Ryan in the season is also changed in contrast to the comic counterpart who is killed by Butcher shortly after he was born.
[35] Kripke wanted to introduce a storyline where Supes would start to be involved at the government and politics which would give Vought even more power than the one they already have, an idea that the showrunner confirmed that he would be exploring for the series third season, so he decided to keep the identity of the "Head Popper" as a total mystery until the season finale intending to surprise and shock the audience with the revelation of the character due to being initially treated as an ally of the Boys.
[35][36] Karl Urban, Erin Moriarty, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Dominique McElligot, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capon, Karen Fukuhara, and Nathan Mitchell reprised their roles from the first season as Billy Butcher, Annie January / Starlight, Hughie Campbell, Homelander, Queen Maeve, A-Train, Mother's Milk, The Deep, Frenchie, Kimiko Miyashiro / The Female, and Black Noir respectively.
"[10] In August 2020, it was reported that Shawn Ashmore joined the cast as Lamplighter for the second season,[12] while John Noble confirmed that he would be making a guest appearance as Billy's father Sam Butcher the next month.
[53][54] Lennertz received directions from Kripke over how to write the song to make it sound like an "Adele-meets-Celine-Dion-meets-Whitney showstopper, over-the-top power ballad."
[55] Lennertz also wrote another original song named "Faster", which is performed by Jessie T. Usher alongside a collaboration with Aimee Proal.
[6][57] The song and the video serve as a way to make an accurate representation of how the hip hop industry works as by today,[58] while also fitting with Usher's character A-Train personality and style.
[60]A two-minute clip depicting a young Homelander accidentally killing his tutor was unveiled online through social media on November 1, 2019.
[62][63] Dino-Ray Ramos from Deadline described that while the teaser starts featuring new footage for the series but then becomes a "tapestry of blood, violence and R-rated fun — which is essentially on brand for The Boys.
"[64] Meaghan Darwish of TV Insider commented that the teaser did not offer much dialogue but give more action, carnage and more on display that she considers that "fans are sure to get excited over.
"[65] For Nerdist, Matthew Hart stated that while the trailer was only a minute-long, it still managed to "pack enough guns, high-speed chases, exploded heads and… milk (yuck, probably)," as an anticipation of what would be coming for the following season.
[77] Lindsay MacDonald from TV Guide described that the trailer does not give too many spoilers for the season, but shows that the Boys and the Seven are still at war, "with Homelander and Billy Butcher gunning for each other.
"[91] In IndieWire the series received a "B" grade rating from a review by Ben Travers to which he stated, "The Boys is still an imperfect beast, but it gets so many parts right - I haven't even talked about the skilled stunt work or expertly staged action scenes - that you're likely to get caught up in its gorging satire.
[93] Sonia Saraiya from Vanity Fair said "Even in the midst of stunning brutality, the show has a sardonic sense of humor that keeps the story crackling.
"[94] David Griffin from IGN considered the second season to be more profound than the previous one as he deemed that the series "continues its excellent form of balancing its comedy, over-the-top violence, and character development into a cohesive force of awesomeness.
[95] In his review for RogerEbert.com, Nick Allen was positive towards over how the show makes references that have been normalized in the American culture: "This is the season that helped me 'get' the appeal of The Boys, especially as it's more fun to spend time with these characters well-past their try-hard introductions.
There's a totally indulgent nature to the series, the way that it offers such depictions of evil or extreme violence caused by pop culture icons, like an energy drink version of 'Watchmen.'
"[96] A review for The Daily Telegraph for Ed Power considered that the series successfully managed to show the darker side of the superheroes to which was something that Marvel and DC would not be able to do.
[98] Doreen St. Félix wrote a review for The New Yorker where she considered that the show criticizing the monopoly of the companies such as Marvel and Disney, while also taking into account over how the series manage to deconstructs the superhero genre and the dystopic portrayal of the world and compared it with Watchmen.