‘The Boys’ Season 3: Soldier Boy’s ‘Playboy’ Line Convinced Jensen Ackles to Audition
Supernatural actor Jensen Ackles joined the cast of The Boys for season 3. Ackles’ diverse range of acting works well in the Amazon Prime series. His character Soldier Boy has all the staples of the series — nudity, gore, dark humor, and raunchiness. Ackles fought hard for the role in the Eric Kripke series, especially after reading one line from the script.
Ackles was not originally considered for the part of Soldier Boy
Jensen Ackles was not initially in the running for the role of Soldier Boy in The Boys Season 3, but the actor fought hard for the part. “This was a big role for season 3. They knew it was coming up. This was just before season 2 dropped — the studio was already kind of putting forward a shortlist of names, of which I was not on,” Ackles told Digital Spy.
However, Ackles had a connection that helped him get his foot in the door in the form of Supernatural and The Boys creator Eric Kripke. “I was talking to Kripke about something completely unrelated, and then I just mentioned that I had already seen season one. I was like, ‘Hey, pal, I’m about to be done with Supernatural. You’ve got anything for me over there?.'”
This line convinced Jensen Ackles he wanted the part in ‘The Boys’ Season 3
Kripke did in fact manage to think of a part in The Boys Season 3 that could work for Jensen Ackles. “And he kind of took a pause, and said, ‘You know what? Yeah. Maybe. I’m going to send you something. Tell me what you think,'” the actor told Digital Spy.
According to the outlet, after reading “three lines” of the audition scene, Ackles asked Kripke, “Who do I have to kill?” to get the part. The particular line that convinced Ackles is an interesting one.
“I read [the scene] and I just remember there was a line where Soldier Boy said: ‘I was banging some Playboy in the grotto and Peter Fonda’s thumb was up my a**,'” Ackles told Yahoo Entertainment. “I don’t know what this says about me, but right then I was like, ‘I gotta play this role!’ This is gonna be so rich. I was really excited about it.”
Ackles persevered in landing the role
Although the script convinced Jensen Ackles he wanted the part in The Boys, landing it was much more difficult. According to Digital Spy, Kripke warned that the process would be, “an uphill battle because I can only do so much, but they’re going to want to have a heavy influence on who they bring in for this role.”
The Supernatural actor was willing to do whatever it takes. He told Kripke, “Listen, if you think I have a chance in hell, then I will take that chance.” In the middle of the pandemic, Ackles filmed an audition using a scene between Soldier Boy and Butcher. Ackles recorded himself voicing the Butcher part, then played it back while he read for Soldier Boy. The rest is history.
New episodes of The Boys Season 3 drop every Friday on Amazon Prime.
