How Reacher Let Alan Ritchson Turn A Real-Life Stereotype Into A Secret Weapon

Without question, one of the biggest differences between Tom Cruise's and Alan Ritchson's respective turns as Jack Reacher was how each of the actors literally measured up to author Lee Child's 6-foot-5-inch literary creation. Cruise, who is 5 feet 7 inches, played Reacher in two feature films in 2012 and 2016, while the 6-foot-3-inch Ritchson assumed the role for the "Reacher" series in 2022 with a second season on the way.

And while it seems like Ritchson has the big advantage of height to bring to his portrayal of Reacher, he admitted in an interview with Collider that sometimes his massive frame is a detriment in the way the world views him offscreen. So while Ritchson relates to his character in a very personal way given that he was raised in a military family in real life and his character is a veteran, he's also glad that the script has clever ways of reflecting his — and Reacher's — obvious height.

"There's an awareness that he has, that the world perceives large people in a certain way. A lot of that he uses to his advantage," Ritchson told Collider. "I experience, in my own life, being not small. People assume that I'm either an a**hole or brutishly dumb, and I would like to think that I'm not either. I think Reacher uses that to his advantage. But yes, there's an awareness in being able to talk about what the world is like for large people, and a lot of people don't deal with those kinds of challenges or difficulties or stereotypes. That was fun."

In "Reacher" Season 1, Alan Ritchson portrays Jack Reacher as a strong, silent type — at least initially — until he comes to trust Margrave, Georgia, Police Captain Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) and Deputy Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald), who he teams with for a murder investigation. And while Ritchson's advantage of height and charisma no doubt helps command viewers' attention, the actor defers to the creator of series when it comes to explaining who Reacher is beyond his outward appearance.

"I think Nick Santora, our writer/showrunner, did a really incredible job capturing who this guy is and adapting what (author) Lee [Child] set up on the page," Ritchson told Collider. "A lot of that, I give credit to Santora and the writers."

The amazing thing about Ritchson's height is it didn't directly come into play when it came to trying out for "Reacher." In fact, Ritchson called his pandemic-era audition nerve-wracking since he didn't meet the series' producers in person for a screen test and instead performed for them over Zoom.