Outside of Michael Cera, John Cena may have been the most out of left field casting in the upcoming Margot Robbie-led and Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie film. But the former WWE superstar and current movie star revealed how a chance encounter got him cast in Barbie.

When appearing on The Today Show, Cena cited a “happy accident” as the reason he was cast in Barbie. He first compared the Barbie film and the Fast & Furious franchise saying that the two have some parallels including “amazing” cast lists for both films. He then revealed that he pitched himself for the film during an accidental run-in with Robbie.

“We literally randomly ran into each other as friends. Fast X was filming right across the street from Barbie and they said ‘Why don't you do Barbie?' I said, ‘I've been trying,' and Margot makes a lot of decisions for that and I said, ‘Well, I'll do whatever you need,'” said Cena, who also revealed that he is playing a merman in the film.

John Cena has become a rising star in Hollywood after being the face that ran WWE for over a decade. In recent years, he transitioned into acting full-time and even starred with Margot Robbie in James Gunn‘s The Suicide Squad a couple of years back. He also starred in F9 in 2021 as Jakob Toretto, brother of Dom (Vin Diesel), and will reprise his role in Fast X. Cena's remaining 2023 slate includes Barbie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Coyote vs. Acme, and Honeymoon Friends.

Barbie tells the story of its titular character — played by Robbie — who goes on a journey of self-discovery in an attempt to find true happiness. The film also stars Ryan Gosling as Ken and then a variety of A-listers from Kate McKinnon, Dua Lipa, Emma Mackey, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Simu Liu as a variety of Barbie and Ken variants.

Barbie will be released on July 21.