An early draft of the script for Gen V’s sixth episode included a Taylor Lautner cameo.
Speaking with Variety, Gen V co-showrunner Michele Fazekas and executive producer Eric Kripke explained that an early draft of the script for The Boys spin-off series’ most recent episode, “Jumanji,” saw Taylor Lautner make a cameo rather than Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy.
“In one of the early drafts of the script, it was meant to be a guide in Cate’s mind that shows up, lays out a couple of rules, and then explodes,” Kripke said. “If I remember correctly, in the earliest drafts it was Taylor Lautner. And the characters were wandering through the woods, and then they’re like, ‘Taylor Lautner?!’ And he’s like, ‘Ya, I’m Cate’s crush! Cate used to masturbate to me. Anyway, here’s the rules.’ And then he blows up.”
Kripke continued, “I don’t remember whether we ever went to him, or he had the good sense to just pass immediately. But we were like, OK, so what should we do? We were always thinking, we really should get Soldier Boy into the spinoff, and we were looking for a part. We said this is the greatest, because it’s hard to get him into the real world because he’s technically in a CIA basement somewhere unconscious. So this felt like a really smart and fun way to bring him in.”
Did Taylor Lautner know about the potential Gen V cameo?
When asked if Lautner knew the Gen V creative team initially wanted him to cameo in the series, Kripke said, “My secret hope is he’s going to realize his managers never brought this to him, and then make a change.”
Fazekas added, “And then maybe be like, ‘Second season, I would want to be in!’ As most things happen, it worked out better. And I can’t imagine it without Jensen. He was amazing.”
The first six episodes of Gen V are currently streaming on Prime Video.
