Misha Collins made his arrival in The Boys season five in delightfully chaotic and gross style. He was one third of a Supernatural actor reunion, joining the show’s mainstay Jensen Ackles (Soldier Boy) and Jared Padalecki (Mr. Marathon) for one wild scene at a mansion. In it, we discover that Misha Collins’ character Malchemical uses his powers in an attempt to dethrone Homelander because, well, he sucks and is ruining America. We caught up with Misha Collins to talk about this big reunion, his filming experience, and why he was so stoked to join The Boys in its final season.
Nerdist: Fans have been waiting to see you reunite with your Supernatural co-stars Jensen and Jared for a while, and we finally got that in episode five! What was it like to reunite with them onscreen and collaborate once again?
Collins: It was very familiar in a lot of ways. We had Jared, Jensen, and I, and most of the scenes that I had, we were all there together. And Eric Kripke was on set and is the showrunner and creator of The Boys and Supernatural. And we had Phil Sgriccia there, who was our producer and director on Supernatural, and he’s a producer and director on The Boys. So there was a lot of familiarity to it and a lot of comfort, I think, in that. And yet it was a wildly different show with wildly different characters. And stepping into that also felt a little uncomfortable. So I think it was a funny dynamic of shaking off the familiar in order to do something new and was a lot of fun.
Indeed. And speaking of doing something kind of wildly different, your character Malchemical is a super with a weird power who has some great interactions with Homelander. What were your initial thoughts when you read about his powers and how he’d end up using them?
Collins: Well, I was quite gratified to learn that I was powerful enough to knock out Homelander. That felt like a big deal. And then my ego was brought back down to earth by the fact that Jensen so very quickly dispatches me. [laughs] So I took the good with the bad. It was like, “Oh, I’m powerful. Oh, I guess I’m not that powerful.”
I wasn’t expecting you to get choked like that! Pretty much everyone else got ran through by Mr. Marathon and got to have bloody deaths. Were you a little jealous that you didn’t get that gross and full Boys death experience?
Collins: I was deprived of the full Boys experience with my death! I’ll be honest with you. Yeah, I was a little disappointed by that.
Yeah, but it was such a great scene all around. What was filming that sequence with so many awesome actors and one-liners?
Collins: A lot of the portion of that scene, which was with the cast of celebrities, was a lot of improvisation that went into our filming. As is quite customary, we shot what was scripted. We managed to get that portion filmed as scripted. And then I think we probably spent twice as long filming additional footage that was improvised. There was more extensive riffing and improvising than we ever did on Supernatural, and we did it sitting around that table.
It went on for a very long time and it was a lot of fun. And I was like, “Oh my God, I’m sitting around at this table doing improv with Saturday Night Live guys. I’m out of my depth.” But it was actually a lot of fun and I quite enjoyed that. So for me, that was the most memorable aspect.
I love that! Of course, you know Eric Kripke well and that was surely a factor, but what else made you want to be a part of The Boys, even for a small role?
Collins: Well, there are two things that made me want to be a part of The Boys. One, my son loves the show and he has said repeatedly, “Dad, why aren’t you on The Boys? It’s Eric Kripke’s show! Why aren’t you on the show?” So that was one. I wanted to not disappoint my child.
And two, the thing that I love most about The Boys is its satirical commentary on wealth and abuse of power and the notion that absolute power corrupts absolutely. And it’s not very subtle commentary on extreme right-wing political perspectives. I have been increasingly impressed by all of that. Eric Kripke, I think, has been a real champion and advocate of being clear-eyed about the current state of American political affairs. And I think that this show so successfully delving into those waters has been an important voice in the political landscape in America.
So I was excited about participating in something that is doing that storytelling and excited to lend my support to what Eric has been doing in that department. So those are the two reasons. Well, there’s a third reason. I actually just f**king liked the show. I have been waiting for each new season to come out with bated breath like, “Come on, when’s The Boys going to come out again?” It takes so long these days with these incredibly high production value, incredibly in- depth post-production schedules for new seasons to come out. It’s not like the old days where you expected everything to start airing in the beginning of September every year with only a three-month hiatus or whatever.
Yeah, now it takes years for some shows to return!
Collins: Right. It drives me crazy. So those are the three reasons. No, okay, fine! The fourth reason is I just wanted to be reunited with Eric and Phil and Jensen and Jared in filming something. So I guess I probably could come up with more reasons, but those are the first ones that come to mind.