Amazon’s “Jack Reacher” has found its Jack Reacher in “Titans” star Alan Ritchson.
And since you’re probably wondering, Ritchson — who plays Hawk/Hank Hall on DC Universe’s “Titans” — is listed at 6 feet 4 inches tall and 235 pounds, considerately larger than Tom Cruise’s 5 feet 7 inches frame that drew the ire from fans of Lee Child’s books (and Child himself). Cruise played the character in a pair of movies, “Jack Reacher” and “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.”
When Child first said that he was looking to reboot “Jack Reacher” as a TV series with a new lead to replace Cruise, he argued the “Mission Impossible” star “didn’t have that physicality” of the character. In his books, Child frequently describes Reacher as being 6 feet 5 inches tall, with hands “the size of dinner plates” — they have also been described as the size of “a supermarket chicken,” or “Thanksgiving turkeys.” Cruise is listed at 5 feet, 7 inches.
Earlier this year, Amazon Studios boss Jen Salke admitted the size of the actor cast to play Reacher would factor into their decision.
“Scorpion” creator Nick Santora will serve as writer, executive producer and showrunner on the upcoming series, which was given a script-to-series to commitment last summer. In addition to Santora, the series will be executive produced by Lee Child, Don Granger, Scott Sullivan and Christopher McQuarrie, with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Marcy Ross executive producing for Skydance. Carolyn Harris oversees the series for Skydance.
Season one of the series will be based on the first “Jack Reacher” novel “Killing Floor.”