Movies - TV
How Alan Ritchson Changed The Jack Reacher From The Books For TV
By JOE ROBERTS
When Alan Ritchson was cast as Jack Reacher for Season 1 of Prime Video’s "Reacher," he was under immense pressure to portray the exact character in Lee Child’s 29 books. The 6-foot-3 actor bulked up for the role, putting on 30 pounds, to play the imposing figure of Reacher but still had to make several changes to the character for the TV show.
In the novels, Child wrote Jack Reacher as a laconic, mysterious bruiser, who would often say nothing in response to other characters' dialogue. Ritchson expected to get away with remaining similarly terse in his depiction, only to discover that he had pages of dialogue, wherein Reacher vocalizes his inner thought process.
Ritchson told Collider, "I came in, and it was just pages of him unraveling somebody, so I don't get to sit back and relax like I maybe had hoped." The actor admitted that a collaboration between the producers, executives, writers, and directors helped him create his own version of Reacher: "It's like, 'Let's play around. Let's tinker. Let's try him this way. Let's try him your way.'"