Gen V Almost Featured A Huge Twilight Star Instead Of Soldier Boy

Jensen Ackles teased a Soldier Boy "Gen V" cameo long before Season 1 premiered. It was worth the wait, too, as "Gen V" reveals the supe to be a product of Cate Dunlap's (Maddie Phillips) imagination. Season 1, Episode 6, "Jumanji," enters her mind and digs into her most personal thoughts, and Soldier Boy just so happens to occupy the most intimate corners of her dreams. That said, Taylor Lautner, the actor famed for playing the handsome werewolf Jacob Black in the "Twilight" franchise, could have replaced Ackles' character as Cate's dream hunk instead.

While speaking to Variety, "Gen V" showrunner Eric Kripke opened up about the original plans for Cate encountering her crush. "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," he 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."

Ultimately, bringing Soldier Boy into the fold made more sense than Lautner, as the supe is a big part of "The Boys" franchise. At the same time, things might have been different if Lautner had been aware of the interest from Kripke and his team.

As of this writing, it's unknown if Taylor Lautner found out about Eric Kripke's interest in bringing him into "The Boys" universe. However, the "Gen V" showrunner hopes that the "Twilight" actor chooses to volunteer his services to the series down the line.

"My secret hope is he's going to realize his managers never brought this to him and then make a change," he told Variety. Co-showrunner Michele Fazekas echoed this sentiment, revealing that she hopes Lautner asks to be part of "Gen V" Season 2, though she's happy it worked out the way it did. "As most things happen, it worked out better. And I can't imagine it without Jensen. He was amazing."

It remains to be seen if Lautner joins "Gen V" for future super-powered shenanigans, but the series creators are obviously happy with how things worked out. Of course, the door seems open to the "Twilight" alumni joining the twisted superhero franchise, which could be interesting as there's no way of predicting how he'll factor into this wacky world.