A Twilight Star Was Originally Supposed to Appear in That Gen V Scene Instead of Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy

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[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Gen V Episode 6. Read at your own risk!]

Gen V Episode 6, "Jumanji," is all about the woods. And not The Woods, as in the Vought-run secret laboratory under Godolkin University's campus. Instead, Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Andre (Chance Perdomo), Jordan (Derek Luh and London Thor), and Dusty (Andy Walken) find themselves in the woods that are Cate's (Maddie Phillips) mind. In Episode 5, the show revealed that Cate and her mind control powers were responsible for wiping the Supes' memories all along. Now, the four students are trapped in her head and must find a way out to save themselves and Cate.

That's where the long-awaited cameo from The Boys' Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) comes in. As Marie and the others hide behind bushes to observe one of Cate's early, traumatic memories, the former leader of Payback suddenly appears. "I'm Cate's imaginary friend from when she was a kid," Soldier Boy announces. "Boyfriend, really." The supe begins to share how Marie, Andre, Jordan, and Dusty can survive, but he's obliterated by lightning — which he said moments earlier is actually Cate's burst blood vessel. 

Gen V showrunner Michele Fazekas told TV Guide that Ackles' Soldier Boy was not the writers' first choice to play young Cate's imaginary boyfriend. She recalled the original idea from writer Eric Kripke, who developed the series. "The initial pitch was, we're in Cate's mind, and we want to see something from her when she was a kid — and it's Taylor Lautner," Fazekas said.  "[The characters] are like, 'Taylor Lautner, what are you doing here?'" 

Lautner said no to the offer, and the writers had to pivot. "Then, in conversation with the producers. I think it came up: What about Soldier Boy?" Fazekas recalled. The idea of Soldier Boy as Cate's "tween crush" began to form, and Ackles came on board. 

"[Ackles] really moved heaven and earth to come help us out," Fazekas said. "He was working on something else. We're like, 'Can you come to Toronto for a day and shoot this?'" And Ackles did. "He and Eric have such a good relationship, and he just sits there and cracks everybody up for a day."

Though the scene featuring Soldier Boy in Cate's mind was bizarre, the supe at least gave Marie and her friends some insight into their unusual surroundings. And if anything, Episode 6 confirmed that Cate is one of the strongest supes we've seen across both Gen V and The Boys.

New episodes of Gen V stream Fridays on Prime Video.