How Tall Is Alan Ritchson's Jack Reacher In The Series Vs. The Books?

It's no secret that a big part of Jack Reacher's appeal is simply that he's a big guy with a talent for punching bad guys really well. Author Lee Child didn't overthink the formula when crafting his series of novels, proving that simplicity is often the best approach to concocting reliably enduring characters and stories. In fairness, though, there are multiple facets to Reacher's personality. He's driven by an almost preternatural commitment to chivalry and justice and has a set of "rules" which are crystalised in the aptly-titled 2012 book "Jack Reacher's Rules." He's famously itinerant, travelling the United States after his discharge from the military police and rarely staying in one place for longer than a few days — that is, unless he's drawn into one of the webs of intrigue that so frequently ensnare the ex-military policeman. Even with these traits acknowledged, there's no escaping the fact that the man's size is not only his most obvious feature, but perhaps his most integral. After all, it's his hulking frame that allows him to be so steadfastly committed to meting out his form of justice. The man isn't scared of anyone of anything, and Child's simile-laden descriptions of the character reveal why.

At one point, Reacher is described as having "a six-pack like a cobbled city street, a chest like a suit of NFL armor, biceps like basketballs, and subcutaneous fat like a Kleenex tissue." In "The Midnight Line," he's said to have "a fist the size of a supermarket chicken," while another book describes him as "extremely tall, extremely broad, long-armed and long-legged" with "hands the size of dinner plates." All of which could be equally applied to Alan Ritchson, who plays Child's hero in the Prime Video series "Reacher."

Ritchson has already proved he's a better Jack Reacher than Tom Cruise, who played the character in 2012's "Jack Reacher" and 2016's "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back." While Cruise did an admirable job, the 5-ft 7-inch star just wasn't quite built the way fans expected, and with size being such an integral part of the character, the "Mission: Impossible" star's run just didn't quite measure up. Ritchson, on the other hand is basically about as book-accurate as you can get, comfortably projecting Reacher's imposing aura. But just how accurate is Ritchson's Reacher? Well, if we're talking pure height, he's pretty darn close.

Alan Ritchson has finally given fans a book-accurate Jack Reacher, after adherents of Lee Childs' books waited decades for such a thing to arrive. Not only was Ritchson adequately ripped, he was a Jack Reacher fanboy, who fell in love with Child's novels and clearly took the role seriously. Ritchson even sent himself to the hospital in pursuit of achieving Reacher's proper weight. In other words, the actor was about as committed to projecting Jack Reacher's physicality as you could get.

That physicality in the novels is ingrained in every Reacher fans' mind at this point. The character is a 6-foot 5-inch juggernaut whose weight fluctuates between 225 and 250 pounds. While the character's weight changes between books, with some stories specify stating that Reacher has packed on muscle due to staying in one area for an extended period, his height of 6-foot 5 inches has remained constant since the very beginning, thereby adding to fans' dismay at the sight of Tom Cruise's comparatively diminutive hero.

Interestingly enough, Child often makes sure to clarify that while Reacher is a bulky bruiser, he's also lightning quick, further adding to his lethality. This is another aspect of the character that made Ritchson all the more suited to the role, as the actor had previously been known for his more athletic build, which he not only used for his modelling jobs but showed off in his role as Gloss in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" and as Hank Hall/Hawk in DC's "Titans." Though he clearly bulked up for "Reacher," he somehow retained that sense of agile athleticism, too. But what about his height? Does he match his book counterpart in that regard?

It might seem odd given how well Alan Ritchson has embodied Jack Reacher in the Prime Video series thus far, but Amazon was initially hesitant to cast the actor in "Reacher." Why? Well, it remains somewhat unclear but according to Ritchson it might have had something to do with his height and weight at the time he auditioned. The actor previously told Men's Journal that he weighed 205 pounds when he read for the part, later telling Collider, "I'm not exactly six foot five and I'm not exactly 250, and I had heard that they were being very specific with their physical demands." He went on to say that while his audition was, in his opinion, "good" he ultimately felt as though his take on the character "was a little different than what they had in mind at the time."

What they had in mind, it seems, was getting Reacher's all-important proportions right. So, how much was the actor off by when it came to Reacher's height in the books? Just two inches. The actor stands at 6-foot 3-inches, which was just shy of the 6-foot 5-inch Reacher of the novels.

It might seem a tad petty to initially dismiss Ritchson on these grounds, but aside from the fact we don't know exactly what the Amazon producers were actually thinking, getting Reacher's size right was clearly of the utmost importance. Even Lee Child himself, having initially backed Tom Cruise's version of the character, was ultimately forced to admit that his casting was a mistake, mainly due to his build not matching the book version of Reacher. As such, ensuring the TV version of Child's hero measured up was clearly at the top of the casting producers' list. Thankfully, they gave Ritchson the benefit of the doubt despite his lack of the requisite 2 extra inches, and "Reacher" was all the better for it.