Did Kimiko’s Radiation Kill Terror in The Boys Season 5 Finale?

Fans of Terror, Billy Butcher’s loyal bulldog in The Boys series, are wondering how Terror died in his sleep at the end of the Season 5 finale. We found out that Kimiko was the reason he died off-screen.

Kimiko may have unknowingly caused Terror’s death in The Boys Season 5 finale. Even though the dog was already old, the radiation around Kimiko appeared to affect everyone inside the house.

Terror only appears briefly in the episode, first near Frenchie’s grave and later during Butcher’s emotional final check-in.

This also explains why Billy Butcher decided to try using the virus on all the Supes again. He didn’t use Terror’s death as an excuse to go “scorched-earth”; it was because another Supe, Kimiko Miyashiro, killed his dog — the last thing he had left in his life after Ryan decided to leave him.

That was the final straw, regardless of whether he avenged Frenchie and Becca by killing Homelander. Another Supe killing one of his loved ones made Butcher say, “We need to end the whole bloody notion of Supes.”

The series creator Eric Kripke revealed that Terror’s death was meant to symbolize the final loss of Billy Butcher’s humanity in The Boys Season 5 finale. Terror represented “the last” piece of Butcher’s humanity, and once the dog died, Butcher emotionally snapped.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Kripke said, “I always felt like that was a perfect trigger.” Kripke added, “That dog represented the last of [Billy’s] humanity, and so if that dog was going to die, Butcher’s humanity was going to die with it. What I’ll tell people is that we gave Terror in the show a gentle, sweet, peaceful death, and it was not like that in the comics.”

The Boys is based on the New York Times bestselling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, who also serve as executive producers. The series was developed by executive producer and Eric Kripke. Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Neal H. Moritz, Pavun Shetty, Phil Sgriccia, Michaela Starr, Paul Grellong, David Reed, Judalina Neira, Jessica Chou, Gabriel Garcia, Ori Marmur, Ken F. Levin, and Jason Netter also serve as executive producers. The Boys is produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios, along with Kripke Enterprises, Original Film, and Point Grey Pictures.

The series stars Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell, Antony Starr as Homelander, Erin Moriarty as Starlight, Jessie T. Usher as A-Train, Laz Alonso as Mother’s Milk, Chace Crawford as The Deep, Tomer Capone as Frenchie, Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro, Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir II, Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett, Cameron Crovetti as Ryan Butcher, Susan Heyward as Sister Sage, Valorie Curry as Firecracker, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Joe Kessler, Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy, and Daveed Diggs as Oh-Father.

In the fifth and final season, it’s Homelander’s world, completely subject to his erratic, egomaniacal whims. Hughie, Mother’s Milk, and Frenchie are imprisoned in a “Freedom Camp.” Annie struggles to mount a resistance against the overwhelming Supe force. Kimiko is nowhere to be found. But when Butcher reappears, ready and willing to use a virus that will wipe all Supes off the map, he sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the world and everyone in it. It’s the climax—big things are going to happen.

All episodes of The Boys Season 5 are now streaming on Prime Video.