Alan Ritchson Had To Cut His Reacher Weight For An Overlooked Drama

Before Alan Ritchson, fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels had been waiting some time for a book-accurate version of their favorite hero to debut on-screen. Tom Cruise's two Jack Reacher movies failed to deliver on that front, but when Alan Ritchson arrived in Prime Video's "Reacher" series in 2022, long-suffering fans were finally satiated.

Ritchson seemed born to play the role of a hulking former military policeman. At 6-foot 3-inches and 235 pounds, the actor was every bit the brute of the books, and whereas physique typically wouldn't necessarily be the most important aspect of a character (just look at Michael Keaton in his two Batman movies), with Reacher, it's a central aspect of the man's appeal and MO.

Ritchson himself clearly took the responsibility of delivering on that front seriously. Prior to the debut of "Reacher," the actor actually put himself in the hospital trying to achieve the ideal weight. Indeed, the star wasn't always as big as he became for the Prime Video series, having typically maintained a lean physique for his role as Hank Hall/Hawk in DC's "Titans," which ended with its fourth season just as "Reacher" was getting started. But he needed to bulk up to play Child's hero, which is exactly what he did at a significant cost to his personal health. You can imagine, then, that putting on all that additional weight only to have to slim down between seasons of "Reacher" was a similarly strenuous task, but it's one that Ritchson took in his stride.

Alan Ritchson has fought for pretty much everything he's got when it comes to "Reacher." Not only was the Jack Reacher role initially promised to someone else before Ritchson managed to persuade the show's producers he was the man for the job, but he also had to work harder than he'd ever worked in order to meet the physical requirements of the part.

In a 2023 interview with Rich Eisen, Ritchson spoke about his goal weight for "Reacher" essentially being a studio mandate. "I was 205 when I got cast," he explained. "I needed to put on 30 pounds for the role. I needed to be at least 235. That was like my mandate from the studio: 'You cannot show up to set without being 235.'" Though the actor had been a professional model for years, and was used to maintaining a strict workout regimen, this was a big ask even for him. In the end, he managed to hit the 235 mark within eight months, although he also wound up requiring shoulder surgery during the first season of "Reacher."

It must have been a vertiginous prospect to then have to shed all that extra muscle for another role, but that's exactly what Ritchson was required to do when he was cast in the faith-based drama "Ordinary Angels." The film, which also starred Hilary Swank, saw Ritchson playing Ed Schmitt, a recently-widowed husband and father devastated by the loss of his wife and wary of Swank's Nancy Travis and her sudden interest in his family. Shot between seasons 2 and 3 of "Reacher," "Ordinary Angels" didn't exactly call for the same mountain of a man embodied by Ritchson in his Prime Video series. As such, the star had no choice but to slim down — and he only had a month and a half to do it.

Speaking to Men's Health in 2024, Alan Ricthson explained how he "needed a stark juxtaposition," after starring in "Reacher" for two seasons. That essentially meant he wanted to show he was capable of more than punching bad guys really well, and Ed Schmitt provided that opportunity. It was the right decision, allowing Ritchson to display more of his range with a role that demonstrated his ability to convincingly render emotional turmoil with nuance and heart. Indeed, Ed Schmitt made the top spot in /Film's ranking of Ritchson's best non-"Reacher" roles.

For his co-star Hilary Swank, however, it seems the actor's physical transformation was just as impressive as his acting. As Swank told Men's Health, "He wasn't as big as I thought he was going to be, per what I was told." However, she was ultimately struck by how much Ritchson had changed in the month and a half since shooting wrapped on "Reacher" season 2. "It's such a great reminder not to pigeonhole people," she noted. "Because we can be so much more than people allow us to be when they give us the opportunity."

Ritchson elaborated on the shift between "Reacher" and "Ordinary Angels" in a 2024 interview with the Boston Herald, recalling how writer/director Jon Gunn was unsure about casting him at first. "[Gunn] was very clear from the very beginning when I came to campaign for this," Ritchson explained, adding:

"The first thing he said was, 'You're absolutely nothing like what I had in mind for this character.' I had to convince him how I could honor the story. He commissioned me to lose as much weight as possible — 20 pounds in less than a month — and to grow the same mustache that Ed has in real life. I gave it my best."

Still, it seems Ritchson will never stray too far from the ideal Jack Reacher weight, as the actor told the Herald that his Prime Video show maintains precedence. "['Reacher' has] first position in my life with the demand I look like Reacher who's mythologically large and in shape," he explained. "So, it's hard to make complete departures from 'Reacher' while that is a fixture in my life."