Jack Reacher is brought to life in various sizes in the Reacher movies, TV shows and books. Now it’s time to look at how these versions differ in height and size.
After Tom Cruise’s slightly controversial incarnation of Jack Reacher in two big-screen films from 2012 and 2016, Alan Ritchson took on the character for the Amazon Prime Video streaming series in 2022 to great results.
Differences in Reacher’s height explained
In author Lee Child Jack Reacher books, the character of Reacher is depicted as being 6 feet, 5 inches (1.96 meters) tall and weighing 250 pounds. It is also described as “extremely tall, extremely broad, with long arms and long legs”, making it clear that the character is no slouch about size.
The character’s first live-action appearance was in 2012 Jack Reacher, although it caused a backlash from fans due to Tom Cruise’s role as the character. Cruise is known for his shorter stature – just 5 feet, 7 inches tall – a full 10 inches shorter than what Reacher is portrayed in the books.
For Amazon Prime Video Reacher series, the studio cast Alan Richson in the role, who stands much closer to Reacher’s book height at 6 feet 2 inches tall.
According to Los Angeles TimesCruise’s casting drew a lot of negative comments and criticism.
Comments include fans saying this “Lee Child fans feel betrayed” calling Cruz “arrogant overexposed short IMBECIL.” Many said that “[would] I’m not paying to see this movie.”
The child reflects on criticism with Metro in 2022 after Reacher Season 1 debuted on Prime Video, explaining how fans feel “very clear image” on what Reacher should look like when Cruise plays the role:
“There was criticism from fans of the book because they had built a very clear idea of what Reacher should look like.”
For these films, Child explained that he and the studio wanted to bring “great fun” so that “unreadable books” could enjoy it just as much as those who follow Reacher books:
“It’s just become a different proposition and I guess being able to think well, we can take a much bigger person so that book fans are happy, but we’re also focusing on people who don’t read books.” What do they need? They just need great entertainment, they don’t have a referral anymore, so we had to satisfy them as well.”
According to Deadline , Child supported Cruise’s original casting in 2012, citing the famous size of Reacher from the novels “a metaphor for unstoppable power that Cruise describes in his own way.”
While talking about Ritchson’s casting on the Prime Video TV show with Metro, Child found him “interesting” that “non-book fans really enjoyed these movies” after it is “somewhat persuaded by Cruz to that effect” in terms of character.
But for the series, the casting process was much different with the format that it was “huge thing,” making it so that the actor in the lead role “[had] to carry the weight through eight episodes.”
Reacher’s sheer size was more of a focal point this time around for what it is “important to certain parts of the narrative,” as the Child explained that he must “scare people”, which is easier with a bigger actor like Ritchson:
“I think size is important for certain parts of the narrative. Reacher has to scare people, and you can do that a lot easier with one look at this huge animal than with a normal-sized actor.”
What does the future hold for Reacher?
Although Reacher Season 2 ends in January 2024, the character isn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
During CCXP 2023, Ritchson shared a video of Reacher set confirming that the show has already been renewed for Season 3 before Season 2 begins airing, with filming taking place while fans wait to see how the story continues.
Furthermore, Jack Reacher director Christopher McQuarrie, who has worked with Cruise on numerous other films, spoke to Empire Magazine in 2020 about the chances of a third film being made.
He and Cruise have previously discussed the idea of a possible third film becoming an R-rated affair, touching on how popular films like Deadpool and Joker have taken this route:
“Tom and I talked about, if the series continued, to take Reacher to a place where in a post-Deadpool, post-Joker world, Reacher could be an R-rated movie and an R-rated franchise, and we really fed off the brutality of those books. We were fully prepared to lean on that.”
While he admitted that “the franchise continued” after their original film, he expressed how excited he was about the ideas he and Cruise were talking about for this franchise:
“It’s a very unseemly Tom character, and we have plans for an even more unseemly Tom character that we’ve talked about, hopefully in the future. […] The franchise moved on and we didn’t. So we already have stuff in the bunker. The [‘Jack Reacher’] the things we’re talking about now are tinkerers’ toys [compared to it]I’m actually very, very excited.”
Reacher Season 2 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
