The hopelessly smarmy supe is played by Jensen Ackles, and the role reunites him with show creator Eric Kripke — the two worked together for a time on Supernatural when the series was first taking off on the now-CW — and let’s just say that Soldier Boy is a pretty far cry from anything Dean Winchester ever was, even on his worst day.

In a long-ranging interview with Collider (which includes some spoilery answers we can’t even talk about yet!), Kripke spoke about the return of the series and some of the most shocking moments in the first three episodes of Season 3. He also shared some info about how Ackles first came to be cast in the role — and to hear him tell it, the idea to have Ackles play Soldier Boy arose from an entirely coincidental chat over the phone:

“We just happened to be talking, we chat maybe twice a year, and we just happened to be having a conversation. He was telling me he was free from Supernatural and he was starting to look around, and I was telling him, ‘I’m having a hard time casting this part.’ I was originally looking for an older actor, because he is a World War II veteran. We were going for this John Wayne, Robert Mitchum archetype. So it hadn’t occurred to me to think of Jensen because he plays as younger, but it wasn’t until I was on the phone with him that I was like, ‘Wait a minute, are you interested in this part? Can I send you this scene?'”

But it wasn’t as simple a process on Ackles’ end; according to Kripke, the actor was in the mix with several other potential contenders, and from then on, it was a matter of duking it out with anyone else who was in contention for the role of Soldier Boy. “I sent it to him, and he loved it and then proceeded to have to fight for it,” Kripke said. “Nothing comes easy. There’s a lot of producers and executives who didn’t know him. So he had to really go through his paces.”

Difficult as it may sound to consider that there might not be anyone familiar with Ackles or his work, especially after his long tenure on Supernatural (which concluded in late 2020 after a total of 15 seasons and over 300 episodes), Kripke cited his own history of familiarity with the actor and his abilities when he expressed why he felt Ackles was ultimately well-suited to don the Soldier Boy suit and shield — and all the rudeness, intimidation, and action capability needed to successfully pull off the role:

“The thing I always say about Jensen is his really impressive versatility after having put him through every imaginable scene over the time we’ve worked together. He can pull it all off. He can be funny. He can be scary, he can be emotional, he can be a credible action star. He can do all the things, and that’s a pretty rare package. Even in those early days, I knew I needed Soldier Boy to be charming at times and terrifying at times and emotional at times and funny at times, and to do a lot of action. … I would say that to have Jensen come in as a new character, but one that I was already really familiar with in terms of his skills and as I say, the crayons in his crayon box, it made it easy, in a weird way. It made it like a homecoming, like a family reunion, to just write something that I knew he could do.”