‘The Boys’ producers didn’t want Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy

The Boys‘ first two seasons were massive hits for Amazon Prime and picked up six Emmy nominations, making it one of the biggest shows in the streaming world. As such, all eyes are on the hotly anticipated third season, which is now in post-production and will premiere in June.

After the cliffhanger of the season two closer, we have a decent idea of where we’re going next, with Claudia Doumit’s Victoria Neuman continuing her subtly sinister plan. The main new addition to the cast is Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, who’s effectively The Boys‘ equivalent of Captain America. But now a new interview indicates showrunner Eric Kripke had to fight to get him the role:

Speaking with the Inside of You podcast, Ackles said Sony Television wanted someone more famous:

“This was something that the studio, that Sony, was talking to some much bigger names than me and wanted to bring in for season three. So Erik was like, ‘Look, I know you can do this, but we’re going to have to convince the powers.'”

He went on to describe carefully putting together an audition tape consisting of a scene between him and Karl Urban’s Butcher, with Kripke tweaking it until it was just right. Fortunately, the execs liked it:

“I was like, look if you’re going to go to bat for me I want to give you the biggest bat I can. So tell me if there’s anything else I can do, and he’s like ‘You’re good.’ So he went to bat for me and then boom that was it. But I worked for it. It wasn’t just like ‘Hey, we want to bring you on for season three,’ I had to earn it.”

We got our first look at Ackles in costume in June 2021, with his outfit heavily influenced by Steve Rogers’ in The First Avenger. Let’s hope he lives up to the hype. Ackles describes his take on the concept as “this curmudgeon, bigoted a–hole”, which sadly makes more sense for a man who grew up in the 30s and 40s than the noble-hearted Captain America.

Season three’s debut trailer is almost certain to show off Soldier Boy, so fingers crossed it lands soon.

The Boys will premiere on Amazon Prime on June 3.