How Reacher's Alan Ritchson Really Felt About The WB's Failed Aquaman TV Pilot

Now that Alan Ritchson has given fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels a book-accurate version of the ex-military policeman, the actor's career has really taken off. Playing the hulking protagonist of Prime Video's "Reacher" has catapulted Ritchson to a level of fame that he had seemingly been chasing for some time. The man was 40 years old when he fronted the first season of the popular series in 2022, and while he had been working fairly consistently prior to that, "Reacher" was such a hit that Ritchson suddenly found himself on his way to becoming a household name.

Once his streaming series took off, the 6-foot 3-inch star brought his Jack Reacher muscle to the role of Agency head Aimes in "Fast X," and will soon appear opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Christmas comedy. Meanwhile, "Reacher" season 3 is breaking streaming records for Prime Video, cementing Ritchson's status as a bonafide star.

It took a lot to get to this point though. Ritchson made his TV debut back in 2006 in a season 5 episode of "Smallville," in which he played Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman. This was the actor's first ever speaking TV role following his appearance on "American Idol" (an embarrassing moment in Ritchson's past that the "Reacher" crew later used as a prank), and looked as though it was about to launch Ritchson's career just as he was getting started. Indeed, soon after his episode became a ratings hit, "Smallville" producers began developing an "Aquaman" spinoff that was actually supposed to star Ritchson. 

Sadly, despite having played Curry in the WB series, the actor was replaced before the pilot was shot. (He would reprise the role three more times across the show's run.) His replacement in the "Aquaman" TV pilot turned out to be less of a blow than it initially seemed, however, as the series was never picked up. Still, to this day, the ever-gracious Ritchson doesn't seem too bothered by that particular career setback.

Alan Ritchson's Arthur Curry first appeared in the fifth season episode of "Smallville" named "Aqua." The episode saw Curry visit the titular town to put an end to LuthorCorp's development of an underwater weapons project, and garnered impressive ratings, prompting the showrunners to start developing a series centered on Curry. As producer Al Gough told Variety at the time, the new show was designed to be "a grounded version of the Aquaman mythology," complete with a version of Curry who "knows what he wants to do with his life, which is protect the oceans."

Though it was connected to "Smallville," the Aquaman show, originally titled "Mercy Reef" after the location where Curry was abandoned as a baby, wasn't technically a spinoff, as evidenced by the fact that Ritchson wasn't cast in the lead. As the actor once explained during an interview on the "Inside of You" podcast, the "Aquaman" pilot was being developed in 2006 — a time when UPN and The WB were merging to become The CW. Evidently, the president of UPN wasn't too sure about having the relatively inexperienced Ritchson fronting this new series, and wanted to find a new lead actor. "He's looking at this roster of shows, this slate, and going, 'Who the hell is that guy?'" explained Ritchson. "Which is the same thing I would do!"

What followed was a protracted casting process that involved Ritchson being told he would star in the series, before later being told he would be replaced. After then being told he was actually being hired, Ritchson finally received the news that Justin Hartley, who would later gain notoriety for starring in "This Is Us," had been cast. As Ritchson recalled, "A week later they were like, 'Actually ... Justin Hartley just came off 'Passions' and he's available and we're gonna go with Justin Hartley.' And I was like, 'I don't know who that is, but great.'" As Gough told Variety at the time: 

"[Ritchson] did a wonderful job on the show, but this is going to be a different version of the 'Aquaman' legend. [The pilot] will be different than what you saw on 'Smallville.' That was our out-of-town trial version."

After going through such an experience, you might expect Ritchson to have been a little upset. But it seems the actor took it all in stride.

When Alan Ritchson was first informed he was going to star in an "Aquaman" series, he was overjoyed. As he told Michael Rosenbaum during the "Inside of You" interview, "I was sitting there, going, 'I can't believe it was this easy. I've been here three weeks. I've got my own show?!'" According to the actor, he was being congratulated on his new series and received a call from someone at the studio who announced himself as "the guy who's just here to make sure you keep your head on the ground, so you call me day or night. If you're in trouble." As Ritchson saw it, he was being prepped for "the biggest show on TV."

Alas, it wasn't to be; after that tedious and drawn-out casting process, the actor was eventually replaced by Justin Hartley. Happily, however, Ritchson managed to stay relatively calm and level-headed. "I wasn't mad at all, why would I be?" said the actor, who would later go through a similarly frustrating casting experience after Amazon originally didn't want to cast him in "Reacher." The star added, "I've learned the best lesson I could early on, to hold loosely to this stuff because nothing is guaranteed and nothing is owed to me. If I hadn't learned that lesson early, I would've been an entitled a**hole."

Of course, things ultimately worked out for Ritchson anyway, with the actor even being reminded of his heroic "Smallville" role while working on "Reacher." What's more, the "Aquaman" pilot wasn't picked up by The CW anyway after the merger of the WB and UPN — though a trailer for the pilot is available online (one that also features Helen Hunt and Ving Rhames).