Margot Robbie Reveals How John Cena’s Barbie Cameo Came About

John Cena is quickly cementing himself as a franchise staple in Hollywood. Since embracing a full-time acting career at the end of the 2010s, Big Match John has appeared in multi-billion dollar IPs like Fast and Furious, the DC Extended Universe, Transformers and more. Cena’s franchise work is far from just being in the rear view too, as he is set to add Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Coyote vs. Acme to his growing filmography soon. Before either of those installments arrive, Cena is embracing his inner Ken-ergy when he suits up as a Merman Ken in this month’s Barbie.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Barbie star Margot Robbie revealed that she personally got Cena in the film’s ensemble.

“While we were shooting in London, I ran into him at a restaurant. We had worked together before, actually I ran into him because I went to pay the bill and they were like, ‘John Cena already took care of it.’ I was like, ‘What? Where is he, he’s hard to hide,’” Robbie recalled. “I found him and was like, ‘What are you doing here?’, he was shooting at [the place we were shooting Barbie]. I was like, ‘Do you want to come be a merman in Barbie?’, and he was like ‘Yeah.’ Surely he’s not going to agree to it just like that, and he did. He’s so awesome like that.”

Cena and Robbie worked together on 2021’s The Suicide Squad, with Cena portraying Peacemaker alongside Robbie’s Harley Quinn. The two have stayed friends since. During promotional work for The Suicide Squad, Robbie revealed that she informally knew Cena long before he became a co-worker.

“I watched WWE when I was growing up; when I was a kid I loved The Undertaker, and then obviously, when I was a teenager, I kind of stopped watching,” Robbie said in 2021. “Then, as a late teen, early 20s, I had a boyfriend who was obsessed with John Cena, so much so that he dressed as John Cena for his 21st birthday and had a cardboard cut-out of John Cena in his bedroom.”

Cena appears in Barbie when it hits theaters on July 21st.

In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hits theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel.