The Boys executive producer, writer, and showrunner Eric Kripke teases Jensen Ackles’ season 3 scenes will have Supernatural Easter eggs. Based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic of the same name, Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys was created by Kripke alongside Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The series follows its eponymous group of non-powered people as they attempt to take down Vought International—the multi-billion-dollar conglomerate that manages licensed “Supes,” including a twisted Superman in Homelander, and his own version of the Justice League, The Seven. Beyond its core cast of returning players, season 3 digs further into Vought’s history by introducing the superhero team Payback and its Captain America, Soldier Boy.
Ackles famously played the Dean to Jared Padalecki’s Sam Winchester for 15 seasons on The CW. After Supernatural aired its final episode in 2020, Ackles auditioned and found a new job as Soldier Boy in The Boys season 3. The gig marks a reunion for Ackles and showrunner Kripke, who created the family business of saving people and hunting things before leaving the show after 5 seasons. While Ackles’ The Boys debut already contained a major Dean Easter egg, future episodes are poised to make even more references to Supernatural.
In a recent interview with Variety, Kripke discussed Supernatural’s relationship with The Boys. In particular, the showrunner promised Ackles’ scenes in upcoming episodes will feature nods to his former series. Read the full quote below:
“There’s little ‘Supernatural’ Easter eggs in a bunch of Jensen’s scenes. When you think of the amount of people on this show on the creative team who come from ‘Supernatural’ — me, [executive producer and director] Phil Sgriccia, Jensen, [composer] Christopher Lennertz, we sort of couldn’t help but drop some stuff in because that show was such a huge part of our lives. We couldn’t resist just a few things here and there. Small things, but enough that the fans will see a little wink from us of what we’re doing.”
Even before the casting of Ackles as Soldier Boy, The Boys has drawn connections between itself and Supernatural. The Boys' most apparent Easter egg is, of course, the inclusion of Jim Beaver. Beaver portrayed Sam and Dean's mentor/surrogate father figure, Bobby Singer, for roughly 7 seasons. That character’s name is a reference to Supernatural producer Robert Singer. On The Boys, Beaver plays the US Secretary of Defense—who is once again named Robert Singer.
When Soldier Boy is brought into the present day, scenes between Ackles and Beaver are the most obvious way to facilitate Supernatural gags. Beyond that, Soldier Boy is definitely not Dean Winchester and The Boys’ TV-MA rating is a far cry from Supernatural’s TV-14. Leading up to season 3’s premiere, Kripke has talked about how Ackles refused to do one specific scene in The Boys because it was so graphic. Kripke is clearly having fun outside The CW’s limitations, having Ackles do things he couldn't while working on Supernatural. Furthermore, The Boys creator and Ackles want Padalecki to cameo in future seasons. As the subliminal relationship between his two shows continues, it'll be interesting to see if and how Kripke inevitably incorporates the Impala.
Source: Variety