Alan Ritchson Had To Film Multiple Takes During Reacher Season 1 For A Good Reason

Since Lee Child started writing his popular book series back in 1997, fans have come to love the character of Jack Reacher to the extent that they have very strict rules regarding how he should be portrayed on-screen. Child wrote the ex-military policeman as the ultimate action hero, and created a legion of dedicated fans with rigid ideas about the character's personality in the process. Not only is Reacher wily enough to always be one step ahead of his foes, he's larger than pretty much any adversary he'll ever face (except for the enormous henchman Paulie from "Persuader" who was recently played by Olivier Richters in "Reacher" season 3).

Physicality has always been a major consideration when it comes to Jack Reacher. When Tom Cruise was cast in the 2012 film adaptation of Child's books, the Los Angeles Times asked "Is Tom Cruise big enough to carry Jack Reacher?" As the outlet noted at the time the "eternally boyish 5-foot-7 star" faced the difficult task of convincing fans of Child's novels that he could convincingly play a 6-foot 5-inch 235-pound badass. As most fans will know, things didn't quite pan out, with Cruise starring in a sequel before giving up on the role. But expectations for the character go beyond Reacher's height and weight.

There's Jack Reacher's atypical sense of humor, his penchant for mouthing off, his unwavering belief in justice for the underdog, and his military past which is punctuated by tragedy. Thankfully, Alan Ritchson seems to have met fans' expectations with his portrayal of Child's hero in Prime Video's "Reacher," fulfilling all requirements including the physical with his 6-foot 3-inch 235-pound frame. But it seems Ritchson first had to meet the expectations of those involved with making the show as even after he landed the role he faced a flurry of on-set requests to play Reacher in a certain way.

Alan Ritchson didn't have the easiest time securing his role on "Reacher." Amazon didn't initially want to cast him as Jack Reacher and another actor was actually given the role before Ritchson. After he did manage to convince the producers to give him a chance, the actor then sent himself to the hospital trying to reach his and the studio's goal weight for Reacher. When you add in the general stress that comes with being the lead in a series on top of the complicated and extensive fight choreography required for the job, Ritchson's introduction to "Reacher" wasn't exactly a breeze — none of which begins to cover the pressure of meeting those all-important fan expectations.

In December of 2023 we learned even more about Ritchson's travails when he spoke to the Television Academy about his first season on "Reacher." Asked about his awareness of the fans' love for the character, he said he was "constantly being reminded of it once" when shooting on the series initially began. He continued:

"For probably the first half of the first season, there were maybe 15 people on set every day. And each wanted me to do it a different way. Like, 'Do a take that's really funny,' or someone else would think Reacher should be real menacing. So, I would have to do everything like 25 times, with completely different reads, because everybody had their version of Reacher in their minds.'"

The series would, of course, prove to be incredibly popular and Ritchson went on to establish himself as the definitive on-screen Reacher in the minds of most fans — which becomes an even more impressive feat when you consider the conditions under which he was working.

Even though season 1 of "Reacher" was arguably the show that made Alan Ritchson a star back in 2022, the actor had been working for almost two decades prior to its arrival. In that time he'd been through his share of misfortune in Hollywood, perhaps most notably when he portrayed Arthur Curry/Aquaman in "Smallville" and was promised the lead role in the "Aquaman" spin-off before being dropped in favor of Justin Hartley. This was back in the mid-2000s, so by the time Ritchson started shooting "Reacher" season 1, it's fair to say he'd been around the block.

But as the actor went on to say in his Television Academy interview, he had never experienced "kind of tinkering" that took place on "Reacher" season 1. That said, he maintained that this view of his Reacher performance as some sort of community project in the beginning was "fun," adding that it was "a constant reminder that there is such pressure for everybody to get their version of Reacher on the screen."

According to the star, season 2 was "much more relaxed" in that regard, which makes sense seeing as Ritchson had proved his ability to play a version of Jack Reacher that resonated with fans. "Reacher" season 1 broke a Prime Video record by topping the Nielsen charts and it's been smooth sailing ever since. Meanwhile, the show's star has seemingly always known the real key to the character is his own interpretation, with the actor saying:

"Luckily for me, I had a huge amount of source material to absorb, which meant that there was also my version of Reacher. I'm open and available to my team's ideas, but my job is to block out the pressure and the expectations of the 200 million fans that have read the books, and just bring to life what I see as an authentic representation."