Reach is already celebrating a great success on Amazon Prime Video with the third season. Before the series with Alan Ritchson there were already two films with Tom Cruise. In an interview, the author of the books explained which actor he finds better for the role.
Who is the author of Reacher? Reach is based on the Jack Reacher Book series by the author Lee Child. So far, 29 books have been published, the No. 30 follows in November 2025. Each book is a completed story in which the title-giving ex-soldier, Jack Reacher, takes care of problems suddenly in various locations in the United States.
Before the series, which is currently running on Amazon Prime Video with the third season, there were two films with Tom Cruise, which were published in 2012 and 2016. In an interview, Lee Child said who of the two is actually the better actor for the role. His clear favorite is Alan Ritchson. This is also due to its size.
The REACHER series rights are at Amazon MGM Studios.
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Tom Cruise is missing one thing above all: the size
What does Lee Child say about the actors? In an interview with The Independent, the author spoke about the two actors and why he finds Alan Ritchson more fitting.
But you cannot escape the fact that Reacher is a big guy. […] It is part of his whole way to see the world and how the world sees him. He is huge, he is relentless, he is terrifying. And despite Tom’s ability to work out Reacher’s interior, he is not huge and not scary.
Nevertheless, he likes Tom Cruise and the films. Above all, he praises the first film as a sharp, tough thriller and that cruise is a smart type and filmmaker. But he also mentions that the readers were not satisfied with the casting, and he believes they were right.
He finds Alan Ritchson perfectly in the role, he even says Alan was born to play Reacher and he knows that. Another difficulty arose when you had to find an actor for the third season to embody the figure Paulie, because it had to be even bigger than Alan Ritchson.
Despite the difficulties, the actor and bodybuilder Olivier Richters, who also played in the films Black Widow or the Kings Men, was found.
What did Alan Ritchson do in front of Reacher? Ritchson probably only had his big breakthrough with Reacher. He had one of his first appearances in the Smallville series. Then came smaller roles in series and more unknown films. Ritchson had his first major role in the Blue Mountain State series, which ran between 2010 and 2011. Among other things, he had other appearances in:
Ritchson had his last film appearance in the Ministry of Undetlemanly Warfare by Guy Ritchie in the Ministry of Uncertical. Although Reach seems to be the perfect role for the actor, he still has a role that he absolutely wants to play: That is why the REacher star wants to play one of the most famous DC heroes at all