Several new superhumans will make their streaming debut in The Boys season 3. But Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy is the one most fans are excited for. Now, we have a better idea of how this “hero” will make his entrance on the show. Jensen Ackles teases.
Ackles discussed his character’s introduction while appearing on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast. He explained that when we first meet his character, he looks a little worse for wear. But it isn’t long before he gets back in the saddle and (presumably) starts making life difficult for Billy Butcher and his teammates.
“So what happens is—I don’t think this is any secret, I’m not giving anything away—they kind of find me and I’ve been essentially in captivity for a while,” said Ackles. “And so when they do, I’m bearded and I look like Cast Away. But then they clean me up and I get my superhero outfit back on and I go to town.”
He didn’t specify who “they” are or who has been keeping his character locked up all these years. Regardless, Ackles promised that Soldier Boy won’t waste any time in getting on viewers’ bad side. The Boys previously brought a racist superhero into the mix with Stormfront in season 2. And it sounds like Ackles’ new supe will follow a similar path, albeit from a different perspective.
“He’s a grandpa, right?” continued Ackles. “He’s from the ‘40s. Like, he fought in World War II and he’s just this curmudgeon bigoted a**hole. And he doesn’t age so he’s this young, you know, 40-year-old superhero who’s really 80 years old or 90 years old and there’s just so much material there and you’ll see what I mean when you see the show. But he has a ‘taste’ for people that were of his era and so it was a no-brainer.”
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Ackles also shed new light on how he came to be involved with The Boys in the first place. Knowing showrunner Eric Kripke (who also created Supernatural) certainly gave him an advantage. But this didn’t necessarily make Ackles a shoe-in for the part. According to Ackles, the studio was looking at “much bigger names” to play Soldier Boy. With this, Ackles put together a series of audition tapes during 2020’s COVID lockdown, with Kripke providing notes on each one until he felt they had achieved the best take. The scene apparently depicted an exchange between Soldier Boy and Butcher. But rather than having his wife or young children play The Boys’ leader offscreen, Ackles instead recorded his own impression of Karl Urban’s gruff, New Zealand accent.
Between his brief stint on Smallville and his memorable turns voicing Jason Todd in Batman: Under the Red Hood and Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman: The Long Halloween, Ackles wasn’t lacking in superhero experience prior to getting cast in The Boys. But this may not be his last superhero project. During the interview, Ackles also revealed that he’s hoping to return to the DC Universe in the near future.
“There is a DC property that I’m currently developing right now with Warner Bros. and some other good partners that I’ve got my fingers crossed for,” said Ackles. “But, again, I’m not going to talk about it because [I] don’t want to jinx it.”
The Boys season 3 hits Amazon Prime on June 3.
Are you looking forward to Ackles’ first appearance as Soldier Boy? Do you have any theories about the mysterious DC project he’s developing? Let us know in the comments down below!
Recommended Reading: The Boys Omnibus Vol. 1
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