Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Boys season 3.
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke explains why Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) didn't die in the season 3 finale like she does in the comics. After the success of the previous two iterations, season 3 upped the ante on Prime Video's bold superhero satire series, intensifying the rivalry between the eponymous vigilantes and the corrupt superhero team The Seven. The Boys season 3 introduced the original supe, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), and saw the series villain Homelander (Anthony Starr) take a full sociopathic turn.
Although reactions to The Boys season 3 finale have been divisive, many are satisfied with the show's handling of Maeve's arc. In the final episode, Maeve escapes Homelander's clutches and joins forces with Billy and Soldier Boy to kill the evil supe. But after realizing that Solider Boy is determined to commit a massacre, she prioritizes saving her friends, and jumps out of a skyscraper window with him, enduring his lethal energy blast. While it seems Maeve sacrificed herself, she is later revealed to be alive. Maeve's fate in The Boys season 3 was different than in the comics, where she sacrifices her life to protect Starlight from Homelander.
Now, in a conversation with TVLine, Kripke explains why he chose not to kill off Maeve in The Boys season 3. As the showrunner explains, there were never any plans to kill the character as Maeve's happy ending was a well-earned one. Another reason why Kripke let Maeve live is that he didn't want to fall into Hollywood's Bury Your Gays trope. Kripke is against the unnecessary killing of queer characters. Killing Maeve, who is bisexual, when she deserves a joyful conclusion would have continued that trend. Read what Kripke said below.
"At no point did I ever consider killing Maeve, from the very, very beginning [of the series]. We were intentionally building to a happy ending for her, always, for a lot of reasons. One, she deserved it. Believe it or not, The Boys is a moral universe, and when you make the right choices, you get rewarded, and she deserved a happy ending with Elena.
I am not going to fall into the trope of killing off gay characters. I’m aware of it, [and] I agree with the criticism of it. I’m not going to do that as well. And I’ll admit that I think we’re playing around a little with that trope by letting people think she’s dead, and they’re going to shout at their TV and be really upset by it, but then [we] reveal she’s actually going to go have a nice, power-free life with her girlfriend. So hopefully that will take the sting off it.”
Although Maeve survived Soldier Boy's explosive crash, she did end up losing her powers. But that is a good thing as she finally has the freedom to live life as a normal human. The Boys season 3 finale saw Maeve reuniting with her girlfriend Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude) and the two decide to start life afresh away from Homelander. So although Maeve didn't die, it still seems that her story has been properly resolved, paving the way for her exit from the series. This is something Kripke has also confirmed, saying that the supe won't be seen in the show for a while, although Maeve will definitely return before The Boys ends.
The Boys' decision to not kill Maeve was an intelligent one that speaks to the series' sense of virtue. True, the show is unsparingly brutal and violent, but the bloodshed and gore are never purposeless. The Boys tends to treat its characters the way they act, and this karmic attitude is the core of the series. Stormfront met a tragic fate in The Boys season 3 due to her racist terrorism, and Homelander, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher ), and The Deep (Chace Crawford), although alive, have faced dire personal and professional setbacks for their misdeeds. Maeve and Starlight are the only two supes who have put their superpowers to good use, and that is why they are happy and with the people they love. Killing Maeve would have been a disservice to her and to the fans, simply because her character development merited a better future.
Source: TVLine