In a recent interview, Alan Ritchson shared his gratefulness for having been passed on the baton by Tom Cruise to play the popular character of Jack Reacher. He feels that the ‘Top Gun’ star’s popularity brought the necessary eyeballs needed for the franchise.
‘Reacher’ star Alan Ritchson has taken over playing the character in the Amazon Prime Video series after Tom Cruise played the character in 2 films. While many had complained that Tom Cruise never fit the look of the character from Lee Child’s wildly popular ‘Jack Reacher’ series, it was Tom Cruise’s popularity that got the necessary eyeballs to the franchise.
Now that Alan Ritchson has taken over as Jack Reacher from Tom Cruise, the 6’3” actor has opened up about how he is grateful to the ‘Top Gun’ actor for passing on the baton to him.
During an interview on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night chat show, Alan Ritchson was asked about whether he ever had a chat with Tom Cruise after having taken over the character of Jack Reacher. Alan Ritchson said that he had indeed written a page-long letter to Tom Cruise and handed it over to a common link between him and Tom Cruise, but the letter never reached the ‘Mission Impossible’ star.
Alan Ritchson said, “I wrote Tom (Cruise) a heartfelt letter, he has brought so many eyes to the series, so out of gratitude I wrote him a page-long letter, he should know how grateful I am for him to do this role.”
Jimmy Kimmel was quick to ask Alan Ritchson to take the opportunity and send forth the message to Tom Cruise via the show. Alan Ritchson didn’t miss the chance and made the most of it. He looked straight to the camera and said, “Tom (Cruise), I am super grateful to you for passing the baton to me with Reacher, and helping it become what it became with the eyes that you brought to the show!”
The first three episodes of ‘Reacher 2’ have landed a couple of days back on Amazon Prime Video with one episode releasing every Friday till the end of January 2024. The show as well as the Tom Cruise starrer movies were adapted from British author Lee Child’s book series which revolved around the popular character of ‘Jack Reacher’. While the first season of ‘Reacher’ adapted the 1st book from Lee Child’s franchise called ‘Killing Floor’, the makers chose to skip the second book and go straight to the 11th book in the franchise, ‘Bad Luck And Trouble’ for the second season. Interestingly, the 2nd book, ‘One Shot’, was adapted by the 2012 film starring Tom Cruise.
The next season three for Alan Ritchson starrer ‘Reacher’ has already been greenlit by Amazon Prime Video. Now whether the makers decide to go back in time and adapt the 3rd book for the 3rd season or they decide to pick another book for the next season is to be seen. For now, all that we know of is that the second season has started with a bang and people are loving it.