Now that Alan Ritchson is playing Jack Reacher in Amazon Prime Video's Reacher series, the star is being compared to Tom Cruise, who also took on the same role.
Although Ritchson is now halfway through his second season of work on Reacher, the character came to the big screen over a decade ago as Tom Cruise played the classic Lee Child character in 2012's Jack Reacher and the 2016 sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
Is Alan Ritchson Tired of Tom Cruise Reacher Comps?
Reacher Season 2 star Alan Ritchson addressed the comparisons of his portrayal of Jack Reacher to Tom Cruise's big-screen adaptation of the character in a recent interview with Jonatan Blomberg.
While there is a notable height difference between the two, with Ritchson more closely matching Reacher's 6'5" height from Lee Child's original books, Cruise's star power helped put those stories on the map for a new audience.
When asked if he was tired of the Cruise comparisons, Ritchson said he could "never tire of being compared" to the actor, calling the Top Gun: Maverick star "the most legendary actor of all time" while crediting him for giving the Reacher books such a spotlight:
"Never. Being compared to the most legendary actor of all time? The last film star? I would never tire of being compared to somebody of his stature. Look, he did his thing, he brought a lot of eyes to this project that wouldn’t be here otherwise, I think. There’s some great IP, the books are great, a lot of people have read them and enjoy the show because of them, but I think a lot of people enjoy the show because he made them aware of it."
While joking about Tom Cruise watching the show or not, Ritchson teased he may have "implants in his brain" that let him watch anything he wants whenever he wants:
"Yeah, he probably has, like, implants in his brain and he just watches every film he feels like watching in his head. He’s probably got a neural-link implant. It’s Tom we’re talking about, guys. Tom Cruise joke, bye!"
Will Alan Ritchson's Reacher Reach Tom Cruise-Level Success?
While Alan Ritchson is becoming quite the star in his own right after his time in Reacher and other recent entries such as Fast X, comparing anybody to Tom Cruise is a difficult challenge.
Considering how popular Ritchson's work on Reacher has been over the last two years (Prime Video's top streaming program of 2022 and 2023, per Deadline), his interpretation is more than likely here to stay.
Season 2 still has three episodes left in its run that will go into early 2024, with Reacher and his team continuing on their quest to take down another huge conspiracy and avenge the deaths of their teammates.
Additionally, Ritchson confirmed Season 3 is already filming when he announced the show was renewed ahead of Season 2's debut, with new stories from Lee Child's book series waiting to hit the small screen soon.
Reacher Season 2 will continue on Amazon Prime Video with Episode 6, which debuts at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 4, 2024.
