This article contains spoilers from The Boys season 4, episode 5, “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son.”

The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke addresses the heartbreaking end of season 4, episode 5, along with an important reference to the comics. In the episode, before Hughie Campbell Sr. (Simon Pegg) dies, he refers to his son Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) as “Wee Hughie,” which is the character’s nickname in the comics.

Kripke explained to Entertainment Weekly that this line “came from Simon. That was not in the script. He reached out to me and he said, ‘Can I call him ‘Wee Hughie’ as one last nod?'” Kripke also discussed Pegg’s exit from the series and how the episode is a transformative chapter for Hughie. Read Kripke’s comments below:

For him, this wasn’t just him leaving the show, this was him saying goodbye to 20 years of this character being a part of his life. I thought that was a perfect way to come full circle.

[Hughie’s] always considered the young one, and he ends this season as a really mature, fully grown adult. Such a big part of that journey for anyone is dealing with sick parents or aging parents. It’s just a very universal thing that everyone goes through. If you look at the episode in the very beginning, dad’s calling him, ‘You’re still that kid.’ By the end of the episode, Hughie’s making decisions that are very mature and adult and real that his parents are unable to do. It’s a little microcosm of a kid growing up.

More to come…

Source: EW