The Jack Reacher character isn’t quite a household name, not in the way that James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, or other recurring literary characters are recognized around the world. But those of us who do read Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels and binge the globetrotting adventures of the wandering vigilante know exactly how he’s supposed to act, look, and feel… and Alan Ritchson basically nails it. Ritchson assumes the lead Jack Reacher role in the new Reacher, one of the best shows on Amazon Prime Video. And when he spoke with CinemaBlend about the process of getting cast and shooting the series, he opened up about the significance of Reacher to him, and his awareness of the character’s rich legacy.
Alan Ritchson told CinemaBlend about his casting process for Reacher:
The scope is not lost on me for what this is. This franchise has crossed virtually all international borders, (sold) hundreds of millions of books. This is huge. Anybody would be happy and lucky to play Reacher, so yeah, it was a very competitive process, and I’m eternally grateful that I ended up with the part.
Ritchson’s challenge in bringing Jack Reacher to the screen is two-fold. On one end, he’s competing with the image that has been in the heads of readers for years, as they turned the pages on Lee Child’s various Reacher stories and envisioned the mountain of a man you would have to be to embody him. These fans probably loved Lee Child's cameo in the show. Also, Ritchson occupies a role that mega movie star Tom Cruise played for two movies.
But in general, the opinions of readers on social media who have dialed in to Reacher on Amazon Prime Video have embraced Alan Ritchson’s interpretation of the military investigator, posting such takes as:
I get that jack reacher fans hated cruise in the role but at least it made sense that people would try to fight him unlike alan ritchson who scares me through my tv screenFebruary 6, 2022
Amazon Prime Video clearly agrees, because even before the dust had settled on the first season of Reacher dropping on the streaming service, a second season of the crime drama had been ordered. During our conversation, Alan Ritchson told me the Lee Child book he’d like to see adapted for Reacher season two. Oh, and co-star Willa Fitzgerald revealed the cool bar trick that she improvised while in a scene with Ritchson. She called it “a machismo off,” and that’s about as accurate as it gets.
We don’t know what book will inspire Reacher season two, and we don’t know when it’s coming. But we do maintain this list on other shows on Amazon Prime, so make sure you are checking it often.
