How 'Gen V' Season 2 Honors the Late Andre Actor Chance Perdomo

Prime Video's The Boys spinoff Gen V returned for its second season a year after the superhero satire faced a real-life tragedy. On March 30, 2024, Chance Perdomo, who played top student Andre Anderson, died in a motorcycle accident shortly before filming on season 2 was set to begin. As Gen V's cast and crew mourned the 27-year-old's death, fans wondered how the series would honor the loss of one of its leading stars.

In Gen V season 2's first three episodes, which arrived on the streamer on September 17, viewers catch up with the undergrad supes one year after they were imprisoned in the season 1 finale. While Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) successfully escaped the prison Elmira at some point, Jordan Li (London Thor/Derek Luh) and Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway) were still locked up. The season begins as Jordan and Emma are reunited with Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips), and the sounds of Andre's off-screen death are heard as Cate reads Jordan's mind.

As a tearful Jordan explains later in the premiere, Andre attempted his own escape after Marie successfully fled solo. He found an open maintenance pipe, but in the time that it took to gather his friends, a worker had sealed the exit with brick, so his metal-manipulation powers wouldn't work. He tried to force his way through a "huge steel door," but he overextended his powers, had a stroke, and died.

Gen V does an admirable job of honoring Perdomo while keeping the story moving forward. All of Andre's friends get moments within season 2's arc to mourn the loss of their friend. Most significantly, Emma embraces her heroic side in tribute to Andre, who believed that she could be more than a supe entertainer. Emma's also the one who inspires Andre's father, Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas), to seek justice for his son.

By the time season 2 begins, Polarity had already been informed of Andre's death and was deep into a depressive, self-loathing spiral. The elder superhero blamed himself, since he "shov[ed] Andre into the Vought machine" and pushed him to become the second-gen Polarity. The father's initial dismissal of Emma is heartbreaking, but it's no surprise when he eventually rallies and joins God U's faculty to investigate the mysterious new dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater).

Most importantly, the season premiere isn't the only time Andre is mentioned. He comes up multiple times in the next two episodes as the characters continue to mourn, keeping his memory alive and never treated as an afterthought.

In an interview with PEOPLE, the stars of Gen V opened up about the character's demise. After the show's creators announced in May 2024 that they would rework the season to pay respect to Perdomo, the actor's real-life mother helped inspire the new direction for Andre.

"I know I spoke to [executive producer] Michele [Fazekas] about it early on, just about the story in general and just kind of speaking about...how do they honor him?" Jaz Sinclair, who also co-starred with Perdomo in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, told the outlet. "And just pointing it to his mom and his personality and knowing that she and he would want him to live on in a big and heroic way. And so I do think that that's what we did."

Emma Meyer added that Andre "really is the beating heart of the season," saying, "So even though he isn't in it with us, he's always there."

Sean Patrick Thomas also added, "Obviously, it's a difficult thing to try and come back to that set and to that world without Chance and without the Andre character. It was a privilege, honestly, to get to be a part of keeping Chance's spirit alive within the context of this show. I don't think Gen V would be what it is without Chance Perdomo. And so it's very important to give that the respect and honor that it deserves. And I'm very proud of being a part of keeping that going in season 2."