The title role in Amazon’sJack Reacherseries will be played byTitans’s Alan Ritchson. The series,in development for Amazon Prime Videosince July of 2019, is a co-production between Amazon Studios, Paramount TV Studios, and Skydance TV.
The show is an adaptation of a series of mystery novels by British author Lee Child. Jack Reacher is a former major and military policeman in the U.S. Army, who opts to become a rootless wanderer after his discharge, and proceeds to get into trouble wherever he goes. Published at least once a year since 1997, the Reacher series has sold over 100 million books as of 2019. The first season of Amazon’sJack Reacheris planned to adapt the storyline of the first Reacher novel, 1997’sKilling Floor,in whichReacher is arrested for murderin a small town in Georgia due to a case of mistaken identity.
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Nick Santora (Scorpion, Breakout Kings, The Sopranos) is attached to the first season as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. Other executive producers include Lee Child, Don Granger, Scott Sullivan, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Marcy Ross.Jack Reacheris the second Amazon series based on a book series from the Skydance/Paramount collaboration,afterTom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.
Ritchson is a former model and musician who branched out into acting following an appearance in the third season ofAmerican Idol. In addition to his current role onTitans, where he plays the football player turned superhero Hank “Hawk” Hall, he has appeared inThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the 2014 Michael BayTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesreboot,Black Mirror,andSmallville.In the latter role, Ritchson was the first actor to ever play Aquaman in a live-action production. Ritchson will reportedly continue to appear onTitanswhile working onJack Reacher.
Amazon’s show is the third live-action adaptation of the Reacher series, after the 2012 Tom Cruise feature filmJack Reacher,based off of the 2005 novelOne Shot,and its 2016 sequel, named after and based on the 2013 novelNever Go Back. While both films were modest box office successes,Never Go Back’s poor critical reception and relative financial underperformance (it “only” made $192 million on a $60 million budget) ended up nixing plans to turn Jack Reacherinto a tentpole franchisefor Paramount.
It’s worth noting that Cruise’s role as Reacher was and is known as being one of the stranger mismatches between character and actor in a Hollywood adaptation. Cruise is notoriously short, while Reacher is always described in the books as looking like an angry shaved bear. Dwayne Johnson wasup for the part of Reacherat one point—which is really the sort of actor one should have in mind for Reacher; anyone who doesn’t have his own zip code need not apply—but was passed over and ended up making the fifthFast and the Furiousmovie instead. Ritchson, who’s 6'4" and 235 pounds, is physically more in line with Reacher as the books present him.
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