"People assume that I’m either an a**hole or brutishly dumb"- When Alan Ritchson opened up about being unnaturally tall

At the moment, Alan Ritchson is towering over the television industry, and not only because of his 1.91m height. The actor leads Reacher, which is currently airing its third season to great acclaim, and currently remains one of the most discussed figures in the television industry. He is also a big part of the movie industry, having appeared in films like Fast X (2023) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).

Alan Ritchson has often taken up daunting physical roles, primarily because his standout physique allows him to. His height has been a source of discussion in many places, including interviews. In a particular interview from 2022 with Collider, Ritchson opened up about some stereotypes that come with his height and build.

When asked by Collider in an interview in February 8, 2022, about whether Reacher contained the self-aware humor about Alan's height in the script or if they made it up as filming went along, Alan Ritchson said:

"Yeah, I think a lot of it was in the script. There’s an awareness that he has, that the world perceives large people in a certain way. A lot of that he uses to his advantage. I experience, in my own life, being not small. People assume that I’m either an a**hole or brutishly dumb, and I would like to think that I’m not either. I think Reacher uses that to his advantage."

He went on to expand on how the character, Jack Reacher, being self-aware about these stereotypes, as well as this exceptional build, makes room for humor in the show.

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"There's an awareness in being able to talk about what the world is like for large people"- Alan Ritchson on Reacher's take on his height

On the surface, it seems like tall people would be better at most things than most others. However, as the world all around is built based on an average size, which applies to almost everything everywhere, very tall people may often find themselves at an unfair disadvantage.

There is also a stereotypical view that exists for such people. Alan Ritchson, who faces this in real life, claimed to be rather impressed with how Jack Reacher's height functions in the show. Continuing on how Jack Reacher's character deals with his tall stature and its perception. Ritchson continued:

"But yes, there’s an awareness in being able to talk about what the world is like for large people, and a lot of people don’t deal with those kinds of challenges or difficulties or stereotypes. That was fun. I think Nick Santora, our writer/showrunner, did a really incredible job capturing who this guy is and adapting what (author) Lee [Child] set up on the page. A lot of that, I give credit to Santora and the writers."

Of course, this is the kind of smart writing that keeps Reacher this interesting even now.

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In his career, which started back in the early 2000s, Alan Ritchson has worked on many significant projects barring Reacher. He was first noted for his role as Aquaman in CW's Smallville, and went on to star in many film projects, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Wedding Ringer, Lazer Team, Above the Shadows, Ghosts of War, and more recently, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

There are as many as four different projects in development, where Alan Ritchson will appear in the coming years.