Anyone who’s read the Jack Reacher novel Persuader remembers Paulie: the giant man mountain security guard who butts heads with Reacher multiple times throughout the story. So, there was much interest in who would play the colossal figure in one of the best Prime Video shows when it returns for season 3.
That person would need to tower above an already 6’ 3” Alan Ritchson in the lead role of Reacher season 3. Lee Child, the writer of the Jack Reacher novels and executive producer of the Reacher series, tells me in exclusive interview it wasn’t an easy task.
“Alan Ritchson is already pretty big. How do you find a person who makes him look small? And it was literally an international search for an actor who could make Reacher look small.”
The result of that search was Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters, who is a suitably imposing presence in the show. At almost a head taller than the main star and with a permanent scowl on his face, you wouldn’t be surprised if Reacher decided to placate Paulie to ensure the undercover operation at the center of season three runs smoothly. Not Reacher’s style, so says Child.
“I think it’s very indicative of Reacher's personality. This guy is bigger than Reacher; he's huge, he's scary. Is Reacher going to defer to him? Absolutely not. He's going to needle him as much as he can, simply because that's who Reacher is.
“I really enjoyed that, especially because given the dynamic of a thriller like that. We know those two are going to end up having a fight at some point. And I guess Reacher knows from the first minute. He knows he's going to have to fight his way through this guy. So he's softening him up, I think, by destabilizing him with the taunts and the insults.”
These clashes between Reacher and Paulie, while tense, also offer a little light relief from the anxiety. They’ve had countless run-ins in the episodes I’ve seen so far, with one particular display of strength in an arm wrestle sure to raise a smirk from anyone who enjoys seeing a smug bully knocked down a peg.
The opportunity to have these smaller moments that establish and grow the characters further is something Child appreciates adapting Reacher as a TV series, as opposed to on film.
“That's one of the huge advantages of streaming. You have the time and the space to do that. If you're doing a feature film, you're compressed down to about an hour and a half of content. And maybe we would have got one line into it, but with the expansive running time, we can keep it going as a running thing.”
That builds on another point from my chat with Child, in which he discussed the possibility of redoing the stories from the Reacher films in the TV series. It’s “absolutely” a possibility, but “not as a matter of urgency”. And with Reacher season 4 already written and ready to shoot later this year, it might not be until season 5 or beyond when those stories come back again.
For now, watching Reacher stand up to Paulie in Reacher season 3 will do nicely.
The first three episodes of Reacher season 3 are available on Prime Video now.
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