Reacher’s fourth season wrapped up with a particularly brutal finale for the hulking hero, and it sounds like Season 5 is already going even harder (at least according to incoming star Jay Baruchel). The character has certainly come a long way since the vaguely more limited scope of Season 1, and the circumference of his biceps has grown just a tad. But I personally hadn’t paid much attention to how Reacher’s running skills have evolved over the years, at least a fan’s comment sparked some sassy insight from Alan Ritchson.
Over on Threads, writer Matt Johnson pointed out that it was clear in the second season that “Reacher couldn’t run,” but then used the words “brillant” and “remarkable” to describe the character’s running in Season 4. (An amusing observation to make at a point when Ritchson’s latest crowd-pleasing movie is actually called Runner.) He surmised that “something changed,” and that’s when Ritchson entered the chat with an amusingly candid (and presumably legitimate) reason.
I no longer let my stunt doubles run for me.
Alan Ritchson
Somebody get the fire extinguisher, because Alan Ritchson hilariously just pushed the burn off of himself and onto his stunt team. And the comment section was filled with fans who were amused that he made the effort to even respond. (Beyond all the thirsty folks who were just overenthused to learn that he's on Threads in the first place.)
One of the top comments comes form someone who claims to. have been the actor's stunt double in Season 2, saying he "can confirm" that's the case. (He also says Reacher rips his character's face off by the beard in Season 5, so that's something to possibly look forward to if indeed true.)
Check out a handful of other replies:
- "Look, it's really hard for them to run when it's two guys in a Alan sized bodysuit. 😂"
- "Stunt doubles out here catching strays. 🤣 'I don’t suck at running, THEY do' 😜"
- "I figured Reacher just got sick of Neagly calling him slow"
- "Can they run for me instead? I don’t wanna… 🤣"
- "I always thought you were just staying true to the book Reacher who couldn't run for shit and hated it. It's mentioned pretty much every time he has to break into a run 😂 I'm yet to catch up to Gone Tomorrow to see if Reacher miraculously starts running."
That this is even an issue is quite amusing for two reasons. One, it's pointed out above that in Lee Childs' novels, running is one of the last ways Reacher will try to get from one place to another. So it should really be a moot point on the TV show, and I can definitely picture Ritchson having all kinds of attitude anytime he's forced to hoof it anywhere.
Two, Ritchson being cast for Reacher was in part to counteract the films using Tom Cruise, despite the actor's height not matching up with the source material. Meanwhile, Cruise is also known for being one of the best runners in all of cinema, and has poked fun at himself for it over the years. I'm not saying that's specifically why Ritchson felt the need to take over for his stunt doubles for those sequences, but it'd be wild if that was the case.
It sounds like Ritchson had some influence on occasional co-star Maria Sten, who performed a lot of her own stunts in the Neagley spinoff. But I'm not sure what people are saying online about her running abilities, and I'm keen to keep it that way.
While both Reacher and Neagley have wrapped their runs on the 2026 TV schedule, fans can still catch all episodes streaming via Amazon Prime subscription while waiting for more updates on the next batch of episodes. If Ritchson lands any sponsorship deals with a shoe company to promote a line of runners…well, you know what the deal is.
