How Alan Ritchson Changed The Jack Reacher From The Books For TV

How Alan Ritchson Changed The Jack Reacher From The Books For TV
Jack Reacher was envisioned by Lee Child as a gigantic beast of a man who, as the author told Entertainment Weekly, “you’re all a little bit nervous just for that first minute” after he walks into a room. So when Hollywood got their hands on Child’s Jack Reacher novels and cast 5-foot-7 Tom Cruise in the lead role, controversy ensued.
Much like the hulking action hero they so admired, fans had little time for tasteful restraint, as evidenced in a piece from the LA Times in which one fan is quoted as saying, “I can not [sic] believe they actually used an arrogant overexposed short IMBECILE to create such an awesome character. I will not see it and it literally RUINED the whole character for me. HOW COULD THEY DO THIS?” One Sally Ross expressed disappointment at not being able to see “a REAL Jack Reacher on the screen.” And while trying to meet fan expectations isn’t always the best approach, it seems that even Lee Child agreed with his fanbase on this one.
After two movies, Cruise wouldn’t play Reacher again. And when Child took his beloved IP to the streaming services, he did so with the expectation that it would indeed result in a “REAL Jack Reacher” being depicted. So by the time Amazon Prime Video commissioned the “Reacher” series and “Titans” star Alan Ritchson was cast, he faced immense pressure to portray Reacher accurately. Luckily, showrunner Nick Santora was intent on making “Reacher” familiar to fans by closely adhering to Child’s novels — giving Ritchson the opportunity to appease aggrieved Jack Reacher adherents with a book-accurate portrayal of the eponymous Army officer (read: much, much taller than Tom Cruise). But the whole process turned out to be much more about trying new things than referring to the books than the actor expected.