Alan Ritchson's Reacher Role Was Initially Promised To Another Actor

It turns out that large man Alan Ritchson being a badass is eminently watchable. Prime Video's "Reacher," in which the hulking actor stars, has become a major hit for the streamer, and not just in terms of the platform's own numbers. "Reacher" topped the Nielsen streaming chart when its first season debuted back in 2022, and the third season maintained a spot at the very top of those same charts for weeks, certifying the TV adaptation of Lee Child's popular book series as the best on-screen version yet.

The influence of Ritchson himself on this success can't be overstated. For fans, a major issue with the two Tom Cruise films (2012's "Jack Reacher" and 2016's "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back") was the star himself. Cruise's 5-foot 7-inch frame just wasn't a match for the bruiser of a man from the novels, and that's not an insignificant problem. Child described his hero to Reader's Digest as "a huge hulking scary brute" who, if he walks into a room, "the temperature just drops a degree and people are a little worried." Cruise couldn't match that kind of energy, and the author himself even said as much once to the BBC: "The idea is that when Reacher walks into a room, you're all a little nervous just for that first minute. And Cruise, for all his talent, didn't have that physicality."

So, when the 6-foot 3-inch, 235-pound Ritchson gave fans the hulk they'd been waiting for, it really was a major part of the Prime Video series' success. As such, learning that Amazon originally didn't want to cast Ritchson in the titular role is somewhat surprising, as is learning that the role was initially promised to another actor.

It's not just that Alan Ritchson matches the physical proportions of the Jack Reacher of the novels. The actor also takes his job extremely seriously, to the point that Ritchson sent himself to the hospital just trying to reach Reacher's exact weight. It's therefore somewhat strange to imagine Amazon going back and forth on the guy, and even stranger to think that the lead role was initially promised to somebody else.

When asked why he was cast as Reacher in a video for Wired, Ritchson revealed that Amazon was indecisive, describing their approach as, "I'm not sure this is the right guy. We want somebody bigger and stronger and faster." He added:

"Every day I fight for my job because there's an asterisk by this thing for me. It wasn't an easy get, it was an eight month audition process, okay? You think I felt wanted at the end of the eight month process when they're like, 'Fine.' And then I find out after the fact, they promised the job to another dude and I was just like, I just happened to be like crushing the audition. And they were like, 'I guess we have to strongly consider this guy who was just supposed to be somebody we threw in the mix.'"

The "Reacher" star stopped short of saying whom he managed to take the lead role from, but the other known names in contention included Teddy Sears, Brandon Routh, and Brian Van Holt. There's no indication which, if any, of these actors were actually promised the role of Jack Reacher at first, but it's not hard to see why Ritchson was able to literally muscle his way in.

Alan Ritchson has described his "Reacher" casting as the scariest moment of his career due to the success of the original Reacher book series and the pressure he felt taking on such responsibility. It likely didn't help that fans had registered their distaste for Tom Cruise quite publicly. A 2012 piece in the Los Angeles Times was entitled "fans are furious" and collected reactions to the Cruise movie that debuted that year, none of which were exactly nuanced. As one enraged fan put it: "I can not believe they actually used an arrogant overexposed short IMBECILE to create such an awesome character. I will not see it and it literally RUINED the whole character for me. HOW COULD THEY DO THIS?"

Imagine taking on a role that had prompted this kind of reaction among fans? It must have been incredibly daunting for Ritchson. As such, it's a testament to the man's dedication and resilience that he not only managed to persevere through eight months of auditions, but actually convinced the casting producers he was the right guy when the part had already been promised to someone else.

Had he done all that and "Reacher" proved to be another dud that sent fans into meltdown, then perhaps we'd feel a little differently about the man taking a role from someone else. But not only did Ritchson clearly know he was the best man for the job, he'd also paid his dues by that point. After playing Aquaman in "Smallville," he was promised a spin-off series before being messed around for months by the WB, which ultimately gave the role to someone else anyway. (The "Aquaman" show didn't even make it past the pilot stage) Actors being swapped out and messed around is, sadly, just how it works in Hollywood, and by the time Ritchson came to audition for "Reacher," he was well aware of how the game is played.