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Alan Ritchson has played a fair share of heroic roles in his acting career. He now stars as Jack Reacher in the Amazon Prime Video‘s adaptation of Lee Child’s popular character and book series. Fans call Ritchson a perfect embodiment of the character in Reacher. In his early years, Ritchson was close to starring as the coveted DC Comics character Arthur Curry aka Aquaman, in a standalone series.

'Reacher' star Alan Ritchson wearing dark suit in relation to Aquaman in Smallville.
‘Reacher’ star Alan Ritchson attends the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards | Mike Coppola via Getty Images

Alan Ritchson had a guest character role in ‘Smallville’

Ritchson’s first credited TV title was not a character role to many fans’ surprise. He appeared on American Idol in 2004. Shortly after, in 2005, he landed his first acting role in the number one Superman series Smallville. The role was not a run-of-the-mill guest character. Instead, Ritchson played one of DC Comics’ biggest heroes, Arthur Curry, also known as Aquaman.

Ritchson would appear as the Arthur Curry for multiple episodes resulting in the series’s highest-rated episodes. The Reacher actor almost struck gold because of it. His popularity in the role led to the development of a spinoff Aquaman pilot. At the time, it was titled Mercy Reef.

The pilot did not go as planned. Despite Ritchson being a favorite for the role, he lost it to another actor. Passions and now This Is Us star Justin Hartley was cast in the role. Hartley also did not succeed as The CW passed on the pilot.

Alan Ritchson is not upset over loosing the role of Aquaman

Looking back at Alan Ritchson as Arthur Curry, he had the potential to embody a good Aquaman in the 2000s. According to TV Line, the actor is not upset over losing the role. Ritchson had just started his acting career and explained, “I hadn’t done anything [at that point]; Smallville was my first gig.” The possibility of playing Aquaman was nerve-wracking.

He was surprised at how quickly an opportunity presented itself. When it came time to cast the actor, Ritchson knew the new executives were not overly fond of him in the role.

“We started working on a deal… and the president of UPN… was looking at this roster of shows and going, ‘Who the hell is that guy?’ Which is the same thing I would do!” said Ritchson. He was notified a week later the series would cast Hartley. Ritchson does not hold a grudge over not being cast as Aquaman. Instead, it was a life lesson.

“I learned the best lesson I could, early on, to hold loosely to this stuff,” he said, “because nothing is guaranteed, and nothing is owed to me. if I hadn’t learned that lesson early, I would have been an entitled a–hole,” said Ritchson.

The ‘Reacher’ actor has played a few heroes in his career

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Ritchson might have missed out on playing Aquaman on the small-screen, but he did voice the character in another project. In a direct-to-video movie, the actor voice Arthur Curry/ Aquaman in Justice League: The New Frontier in 2008. He then voiced Raphael in the 2014 reboot movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and reprised his character in the sequel.

The closest Ritchson has been to playing a superhero since Smallville was in the series Titans. He had a recurring role as Hank Hall / Hawk in seasons two and three. He also guest-starred as the character in Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow.

Now fans can watch Ritchson in a new hero role as Jack Reacher. Instead of capes and superpowers, the actor stars as a former U.S. Army military policeman who gets caught up in the bloodshed and conspiracy of Margrave, Georgia.

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