Alan Ritchson packs plenty of punch in ‘Reacher’ Season 2

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Fans of Jack Reacher, the bruising hero made popular by author Lee Child, always ask Alan Ritchson, who plays Reacher on TV, what he likes best about the character. But he always flips the question around.

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“Wouldn’t I love to find out,” Ritchson, 41, says with a chuckle over Zoom. “When I get stopped, I ask people, ‘What do you like about him?’”

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The answers are always different, but point to a deep love for the justice-dispensing drifter who has appeared in 28 novels, two films and now a popular, Canadian-shot, TV show.

“It’s different for everybody. Maybe that’s what works,” Ritchson says of Reacher’s ongoing popularity. “For some it’s the fighting, others it’s the action. For a lot it’s the mystery. There are fans that want to see if they can solve the case faster than Reacher can. For others, it’s the gratuitous shirtless scenes that don’t need to be there, but are because,” and here he breaks into another grin, “we gotta sell tickets.”

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The series based on Child’s best-selling books has proven to be a monster hit with fans as Season 2, which wraps Jan. 19, became Prime Video’s most-watched series following its premiere last month. As of this month, Reacher has a 97% favourable rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The sophomore season of the show adapts the 11th book in the series called Bad Luck and Trouble, which follows Reacher and his Army pals (played by Serinda Swan, Shaun Sipos and Maria Sten) as they track down a group of killers targeting members of the 110th Unit they once served with.

After Season 1 used Child’s first Reacher tale the Killing Floor as its inspiration, Ritchson says this new storyline was perfect for the followup.

“We were so unfamiliar with Reacher (in Season 1) there was a lot of distance and anonymity in the world that we were enjoying. So to take it to the other extreme, to surround Reacher with people he’d consider family and put them on the case with him, raises the stakes and changes how we experience Reacher. I think it couldn’t have been a better move,” he says.

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The show’s already been greenlit for more episodes (Ritchson won’t say which book they’re adapting for the third season, but promises it’s another favourite).

After a lukewarm reception for two films that featured Tom Cruise as the devastating avenger, Ritchson says he has faithfully tried to live up to expectations fans have for a character who is quick with one-liners and is described as having “biceps like basketballs.” It was a “group effort,” he says, in unlocking this interpretation of Reacher.

“The key (to my success) was learning my lines and listening to what everyone said they wanted him to look like,” the muscle-bound Ritchson says. “I never worked out like that before, probably never will work out like that again. But I showed up prepared, not so that I could be rigid in my work, but so I could listen to the army of people on the ground who were saying, ‘Can you do it like this?’”

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As he travels the country with only a toothbrush, in each adventure Reacher encounters evildoers and puts things right. He’s the ultimate aspirational hero. But even though “he won’t stop until justice is done,” Ritchson says there are many layers to the tightlipped do-gooder.

“Reacher is stoic, emotionally unavailable, socially awkward, but he’s hyper intelligent and ultra physical,” he says. “He’s larger than life and he uses that for his own means and ends. So he’s got a binary ethical compass and about what’s right and wrong.”

Of course, one of the most endearing aspects of Reacher is how ruthlessly he dispatches the bad guys that cross his path. Six-foot-three Ritchson, who eagerly documents his workout regimen on his Instagram page, says that it’s surprisingly easy for him to motivate himself to stay in top shape as well as enjoy his cheat meals.

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“When you work out enough you can eat whatever you want,” he quips. “That’s the real cheat. You can eat whatever you want because you know that in 30 minutes you’re going to be in the gym because it’s part of the job. I work out a lot. I used to punish myself, though,” he says with a laugh. “I used to think if I died on a treadmill, I’d beat the game. I’d win.”

But these days it’s not about “destroying” himself in the gym. After all, he’s hoping his Reacher gets to hang around a while since avid readers — and now TV viewers — can’t seem to get enough of him.

“It’s about a lifestyle and self care in little ways,” Ritchson says. “I give myself 20 minutes here and there … it’s about creating longevity. Then it becomes a lifestyle.”

Reacher is streaming now on Prime Video.

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X: @markhdaniell

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