Entertainment
Jensen Ackles Has Revealed He Did Not Read The Boys Comics Before Playing Soldier Boy And Here's Why
By Justin Drea
Jul 9, 2022 1:24 AM
Kristy Sparow
Jensen Ackles took up the mantle of Soldier Boy in season 3 of The Boys and delivered one of the best performances on the show that is already filled with actors doing some of their finest works.
Most prominently known for his role as Dean Winchester in the long-running Supernatural, Jensen Ackles has recently revealed that he actually did not read any of The Boys comics before taking on the role o Soldier Boy. While a daring choice for any other comics-based character it makes perfect sense in the case of Soldier Boy since the version of the character that Ackles played in the series is very different from the Soldier Boy that exists in the comics.
In the comics, Soldier Boy is a rather naive and even cowardly figure while in the show that character is sort of a darker and more cunning and evil version of Marvel’s Captain America.
Ackles has revealed that the suggestion to not read the comics was actually given to him by showrunner Eric Kripke, who also wrote and produced the first 5 seasons of Supernatural. Kripke told Ackles that reading the comics might affect the choices that Ackles may make in his acting and since this is clearly a different version of the character, that would be counterproductive. Here is how Jensen Ackles himself described it:
“Honestly, Kripke and his crew, they write such colorful dialogue and descriptors that, you know, I even asked him, I said, ‘Do you want me to read the comics and brush up on who this guy is?’ And he steered me away from that and said, ‘No, don’t do that. I don’t want that to affect any choices you might make.’ So he encouraged me just to kind of trust my instincts, but largely it comes off the page in such a beautiful way and we’re, as actors, very fortunate to have such amazing writing and we trust it and then they trust us to perform it.”
In the finale of season 3, Homelander and Butcher have to work together to take out Ackles’ Soldier Boy since has grown way too powerful, and the two end up putting him in storage, which means that Ackles’ Soldier Boy has not died yet and may return in future seasons of the show. Since the character has become such a fan favorite in just one season, it’s highly likely that he will return in future episodes.