The Reacher Season 3 Scene That Reminded Alan Ritchson Of His First Heroic Role

This season has seen Alan Ritchson's bad-guy breaking hero, "Reacher," cross literal seas to disrupt the days of villains who remain unaware who they are dealing with. Of course, for those familiar with Ritchson's lengthy career thus far, you'll already recall that the oceans are no obstacle for him, considering he portrayed DC's water-based warrior of the seas, Aquaman, in the classic Superman prequel series, "Smallville."

Ritchson appeared in four episodes of the hit series, which still stands as one of his best roles. Donning the iconic gold and green costume of Arthur Curry long before Jason Momoa considered taking on the role, he managed to almost wear a supersuit before Tom Welling did as the show's Clark Kent. Naturally, that role required Ritchson to take the occasional dip on camera, and now, years later, he finds himself doing the same for his one-man army, which is typically seen in military-grade boots paired with a T-shirt and jeans instead of a bright gold wetsuit.

Speaking to People about getting back in the water for "Reacher," Ritchson admitted, "Yeah, it was pretty similar, because the water was cold, and when I was a child on 'Smallville,' we were in a glacial lake. It was just above freezing, and it felt a little bit like that up in Toronto shooting again. So I was having flashbacks — it's like my 'Nam.'" By the sounds of things though, Ritchson's water-based bits for "Reacher" sounded perhaps even more intense than his early days as Atlantis' number one protector.

Besides bringing back memories of his time on Smallville (a gig where he was initially promised a spin-off, but never received one), the swimming sequences in "Reacher" proved to be all the more demanding when it came to getting out of the water, as much as getting in. "It was tough. That water work was pretty tricky, and stripping down and crawling across those cold, wet rocks naked was not the funnest for me and for just about anybody watching — but we did it because we love the show."

Love or not, the star admitted that after reading "Persuader" (the book on which this season is based and the best read in the "Jack Reacher" series), Ritchson had his fingers crossed he wouldn't have to take a dive as his hulking alter-ego. "Having read the book and enjoying it, that was the one [part] that I was like, 'I hope we skip over that,'" he confessed. "Maybe [Reacher] just crawls across the lawn, maybe he stays on the grass. But no, we actually built most of that world in a gigantic indoor pool." 

Well, after three seasons, Ritchson has proven Reacher is damn-near bulletproof, so it was about time we found out if he was waterproof as well.