The Boys Season 5 saw Kimiko finally speaking in complete, comprehensive sentences, after being mute for four seasons. The character showed the first signs of her voice returning in the Season 4 finale, and now it seems that Kimiko can talk properly. So, what happened, and how did she regain her ability to speak?
How Kimiko is able to talk in The Boys Season 5 revealed
For Kimiko, not speaking stemmed from her mental barrier more than any physical condition. As explained in the previous seasons, Kimiko endured a tough childhood and was forced to participate in a training where the girl who screamed first was killed. Hence, she built superior mental blocks that stopped her from talking.
She finally broke free of her mental block in the Season 4 finale, when she screamed for Frenchie.
Now, as explained in the new season, with her mental barrier broken, Kimiko did speech therapy and watched a lot of TikTok over the year since the events of Season 4. She also started normal therapy, which has further helped with her mental block.
With all of this combined, Kimiko can now speak.
“She was excited. After having no dialogue for four whole seasons, to finally be able to actually speak was great. For the first time, we had to start wiring her with a microphone. That was exciting, but it was also a process, like, “So how does she sound exactly?” It’s unexpectedly challenging when you’ve gotten a character so well-known and ingrained with the audience over four seasons, and now suddenly they’re communicating in a completely different way,” showrunner Eric Kripke said about Kimiko (via Variety).
He further added, “I think it was nerve-racking for her and me for this late in the game to try something so wildly new. But I think she did a fantastic job. My favorite thing about her is that she has no filter because she would never need one. It makes you think about all the times she talked to Frenchie, what was she really saying? Because he’s always translating for her in a very polite way. She’s probably saying the filthiest shit to him, and he’s just “Uh-huh, uh-huh,” and not translating it one-to-one. Now to finally hear from her unfiltered was really fun.”
The first two episodes of The Boys Season 5 are now streaming on Prime Video.
