Reacher's Alan Ritchson Wanted To 'Tinker' With The Well-Known Character

Regarding adaptations with seemingly endless material to draw from, few have as much to choose from as "Reacher" does. Based on the long-running Jack Reacher series of novels by Lee Child, there are currently over 20 books published, only a few of which have been adapted in any way.

This means that even forgoing the two that were adapted into the Tom Cruise "Jack Reacher" film series, there is still a wide swathe to take inspiration from for the Prime Video series. Furthermore, since Amazon has already cast the perfect actor to play the character with Alan Ritchson, they can confidently move forward with subsequent seasons, especially considering how well-received the adaptation has been by critics and fans alike.

For his part, Ritchson has definitely put in the work to learn about the character and how he ticks. Ritchson has read almost every book in Child's series to prepare for the character, and that's probably why he feels confident about making certain choices to change Reacher up a bit, as he explained in an interview with Collider. 

"'Let's play around. Let's tinker. Let's try him this way. Let's try him your way,'" Ritchson recalled saying. "Everybody saw something a little different, and it was just about being open and availing myself to what I thought and what the directors and producers thought."

According to Alan Ritchson, there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen when it came to nailing down the recipe for how Lee Child's iconic character would be portrayed in the Prime Video series. However, with a ton of access to the source material and many fans on staff, it sounds like there was plenty of thought put into how "Reacher" would ultimately come to life.

"There was a huge presence of producers and executives and writers, and we had amazing directors," Ritchson recalled. "Everybody has access to the books too. They all have an opinion on who Reacher is to them, and it was a truly collaborative effort in a way that I haven't experienced before," the actor went on.

While Ritchson pointed out that he's been around these types of high-profile characters before, this one was still somewhat imposing, even for him. Either way, with more of "Reacher" on the way, it won't be long before fans get their chance to catch up with the badass investigator in his latest mystery.