Supernatural actor Jensen Ackles revealed the intense process he underwent to land the role of Soldier Boy in season 3 of the Amazon Studios' acclaimed series The Boys. The highly-anticipated The Boys season 3 is set to premiere this summer, airing its first three episodes on Friday, June 3. The show's stars, led by Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Laz Alonso, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, are all expected to return for the new season.
Soldier Boy is an original character created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson during the initial run of their The Boys comic book series that debuted in 2006. The character has many parallels to Marvel's Captain America, and is the leader of a team called Payback, which was formed in the 1940s. The team was intended for use against Nazi Germany during World War II, and they predate the modern day superhero team of the Seven.
Speaking on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast (via ComicBook.com), Ackles discussed his challenging, rigorous journey toward earning the highly coveted role of Soldier Boy for The Boys season 3. Ackles detailed how he first learned about the role from his longtime collaborator Eric Kripke, who created and produced Supernatural, the series which Ackles starred in for 15 seasons. He explains that Kripke sent him material regarding the role of Soldier Boy, and Ackles then immediately became interested after reading it. But apparently, landing the role did not come without its challenges.
"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' ... 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."
Ackles shared he needed to film a scene between Soldier Boy and Billy Butcher to land The Boys role, and creating the audition tape was not without its complications. Due to the COVID pandemic, no one was available to read the Butcher's lines. The actor came up with a very creative solution to his problem, however. Ackles explained that, in the end, he did it himself by pre-recording Butcher's lines while having his wife press play and pause on the recordings. Of course, all of these obstacles were eventually overcome, and Ackles ultimately did land the highly sought-after role.
Of course, Ackles is no stranger to superhero television shows, appearing in over 20 episodes of the 2000s Superman TV series Smallville. He also voiced DC's Batman in a two-part animated film just last year titled Batman: Long Halloween. Ackles seems to have a great respect and understanding of the superhero genre, and is obviously very keen on delivering a memorable performance in the role of Soldier Boy on The Boys season 3. And considering how hard he worked to land the part, Ackles' take on the hero is likely to be one worth waiting for.
Source: ComicBook.com