The Boys Kills Off [Spoiler] In Shocking Season 5 Premiere: 'It Was A Long Time Coming,' Victim Says

Homelander is on the warpath in the "The Boys" Season 5, and no Supe is safe — least of all A-Train, who gets strangled to death in the woods by his former leader at the end of the premiere. The game-changing moment is sure to leave fans' jaws on the floor, but the actor playing A-Train was considerably less surprised by this unfortunate turn of events.

"I felt like we were just waiting to see how it was going to happen," Jessie T. Usher tells TVLine of his character's untimely demise. "He had no allies, he had no one that he can depend on or manipulate or even ask a favor from who would put their life on the line to keep things going for him. So it was a long time coming."

In fact, Usher says he approached "The Boys" showrunner about this very issue towards the end of Season 4, when he began to ask himself, "What's the possible outcome for the situation that A-Train was sort of putting himself in?"

"Every decision he made dug his hole a little bit deeper, so I went to Eric Kripke and said, look, I personally don't see a reasonable way out," Usher recalls. "Like, I don't see him surviving ... what he's doing right now in any shape or form. What are we going to do because, you know, we're all expecting to do Season 5? And he was like, 'To be honest with you, I don't know. We're not going to deal with it in Season 4, we're going to just deal with it in Season 5.' In that moment, I knew that that was the start of the end."

In the end, Usher says he's "happy that [A-Train] made it this far into the show," adding that he's grateful that his character "made such an impact and such a difference on the trajectory of the story." Most importantly, Usher is glad that A-Train was "able to confront his monster face to face" and "put his foot up Homelander's a** one last time."

Jessie T. Usher kept the knowledge of his character's death from his co-stars for "about a year," he tells TVLine, meaning that most of them didn't find out until they read it in the script for the Season 5 premiere — and one co-star in particular had a very strong reaction.

"I still remember when I first read episode 501, and I had no idea," Karan Fukuhara (Kimiko) tells TVLine. "It stopped me in my tracks, and I texted [Usher] right away. It's a very sensitive thing for an actor to die on a show, especially one that's been going on for so many seasons, and I was like, 'Jessie, I just read your episode. I'm devastated.' And he was like, 'Oh yeah, I've known for a year.'"

In addition to processing the news of A-Train's death, Fukuhara couldn't believe how chill Usher was being about the whole situation.

"[He was] so nonchalant about it ... and I was like, 'Oh, I'm weeping, but OK,'" Fukuhara says with a laugh.

Fans mourning A-Train's brutal end shouldn't hold their breath for any apologies, neither from Homelander nor the actor who portrays him. 

"Whoops?" Antony Starr tells TVLine when asked if there's anything he'd like to say on his character's behalf. "You hire a dog, you don't like it when he bites. ... One thing I love about this show is that it's never been afraid of taking big swings and risks, and unapologetically so, and [A-Train's death] is one of those moments. I know certain people are not going to be happy about that, but it makes for good TV."

Then again, this is the approach Starr says he has always taken to playing Homelander, whose list of atrocities is longer than Love Sausage's, well, love sausage. 

"I don't think about it as much as you might think, because I'm just getting the scenes and putting them together and trying to do the best I can with what's on the page and add my flavor to it," Starr explains. "And I have a lot of fun doing it. It's a great character to play, so I don't know if I'm a little numb to it. Maybe. But it's a pretty versatile character that can pivot in any direction, so it has kept me on my toes, and I think it keeping me on my toes keeps the audience on their toes. So it's been a pretty good run."

"The Boys" fans can also take solace in knowing that A-Train turned his life around before he died, especially when it came to his impossibly tumultuous relationship with Hughie, whose girlfriend A-Train accidentally killed back in Season 1.

Jack Quaid recalls the emotional moment in Season 4 when Hughie officially forgave A-Train for his past misdeeds, telling the Supe to his face that he's "sick of holding on to all of the bulls**t."

"I think that A-Train has proven time and time again that he's ... making a face turn and he's starting to have more of a soul, and I think Hughie gives him all the credit in the world for that. Even from a distance, I think Hughie can see the growth, and I think A-Train has more than proven that he's serious about this. I know Annie feels the same way. Obviously they were never going to be best friends, but I think him saving Hughie on more than one occasion ... was really big of him, and the fact that he's doing everything for the right reasons now is also very big of him."

Jessie T. Usher also praises his character's heroic turn: "I love the fact that he makes a conscious decision and he understands what comes with that," Usher tells TVLine of A-Train's final moments. "I just like that, from the Blue Hawk storyline all the way until now, that's sort of where he is. He's like, let me weigh my options and then I'll let you know what I'm willing to do. And even in this moment, he's willing to die to save the only thing that he sees continuing [this fight]."

OK, let's talk: How do you feel about Homelander killing A-Train, among the many other twists delivered in this episode? (Mother's Milk's revenge? Ivy's death? Kimiko becoming verbose?!) Hit PLAY on the video above to watch our interview with the cast, then grade the Season 5 premiere in our poll below and drop a comment with your overall reaction.