Why Paul Reiser Gave His Threesome Scene to The Boys’ Co-Star Jensen Ackles

The threesome scene from the July 1 episode of The Boys was supposed to feature Paul Reiser instead of Jensen Ackles. Find out why the actor handed it off to his younger co-star.

By Daniel Trainor Jul 01, 2022 9:49 PMTags
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The Boys rarely leaves anything to the imagination—and Paul Reiser wasn't about to take any chances.

The Mad About You star—who is having a bit of a television renaissance at the moment, as his character Dr. Owens also played a major role in the fourth season of Stranger Things—plays the Legend on season three of Prime Video's superhero hit.

In the July 1 episode, Paul's co-star Jensen Ackles, who plays Soldier Boy, is seen engaging in a tawdry threesome with two of The Legend's employees. If that wasn't scandalous enough, it turns out it was supposed to be Paul himself in the scene!

"That was originally going to be me," Paul told TV Insider on July 1, "my character was going to be with the two women."

The 66-year-old actor said he didn't feel comfortable about participating, so he thought of Jensen and said "we'll give that to him." The scene featured Jensen, whose Solider Boy character debuted in season three, smoking a cigarette while wearing a kimono.

We're not saying Paul couldn't have pulled it off, but we aren't complaining about the visual it provided us.

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When it came time to actually see the finished product, Paul admitted it wasn't quite as outrageous as he assumed it might be.

"When I watched it, I went, ‘Oh, that really didn't seem like any trouble at all,'" he said. "But I was happy to not be in the midst of that."

Despite his reluctance to film the scene, Paul insisted his experience on The Boys was nothing but positive.

"It's always tricky to come into a show that's up and running and is such a well-oiled machine, and I didn't know what to expect," he said. "But they were all so lovely and welcoming and warm."

In fact, he's eager to come back for more, saying he would be "willing to come back even if I wasn't asked."

We're not sure that's how that works, but more power to you, Paul!

Courtesy of Prime Video

It turns out Paul wouldn't have even signed on to the show if it wasn't for his son Leon

"I thought, ‘Oh, this is something else. This is really wild,'" Paul told Variety on June 21. "My 21-year-old son, who is really into the world and loves the show, I had to go to him like, ‘So they're on purpose being this disgusting? OK, so that's different.'"

Something tells us Leon probably supported giving the threesome scene to Jensen, too. 

The final episode of The Boys' third season drops July 8 on Prime Video.

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