The actor began his career as Aquaman in the CW superhero show Smallville.

SUMMARY

Alan Ritchson is known for playing Jack Reacher in the Amazon Prime Video series Reacher.
The actor has had a prolific career, starting by playing Aquaman in Smallville and then playing Hawk in Titans.

Actor Alan Ritchson gained worldwide fame for his role in the action series Reacher. The actor’s performance as the famous literary character Jack Reacher was lauded by fans and critics alike. Based on Lee Child’s novel series, the show recently released its second season and has reportedly been renewed for a third.

While Ritchson has now been known for playing Jack Reacher, he gained fame by playing Aquaman in Smallville and Hawk in Titans.

However, the actor was reportedly up for two more superhero roles, which he lost out. While he was up for the role of Nightwing in Titans, he had reportedly auditioned for the role of Thor in the MCU but lost out to Chris Hemsworth.

Reacher Star Alan Ritchson Lost The Role Of Thor

Alan Ritchson in Blue Mountain State

Alan Ritchson started gaining fame when he appeared on the reality singing show American Idol. Appearing in its third season, the actor gained notoriety for his infamous striptease performance which impressed judge Paula Abdul. However, he exited from the show soon after, not making it to Hollywood at the time.

While his singing career did not take off, Ritchson was known for his role in Smallville, where he had a recurring role as Arthur Curry a.k.a Aquaman. The TV show centered on Clark Kent’s teen years as he takes on the role of Superman.

The CW show was a hit among fans, giving Ritchson much-needed traction. He also gained considerable fans due to his starring role in the sitcom Blue Mountain State.

The actor reportedly came off from the high of these two popular roles when he went in to audition for Thor.

Alan Ritchson mentioned to Men’s Health that since he had been known as the hunky hero in the aforementioned shows, he thought just because he looked like Thor in the comics, he would bag the role. However, he was mistaken. He said,

“I didn’t take it seriously. I was like, They’ll throw me the part if I look like the guy; nobody really cares about acting.”

Ritchson mentioned that when his team reached out to Marvel for the reason, they mentioned that he lacked the craft required to pull off the role, which Chris Hemsworth possessed.

Alan Ritchson Was Not Cast As Nightwing In Titans

A still from Reacher

Alan Ritchson lost out on the lead role in Thor, which ended up being a franchise earning $2.7 billion and had appearances in Avengers films.

To hone his ‘craft’ so that he would not lose out on such important roles, he reportedly went to Debora Aquila, a casting director who went on to become the VP of casting at Paramount Television. She told Men’s Health,

“He had done Blue Mountain State, and I watched episodes of it. And I was scratching my head going, ‘How am I going to help this man?’…I remember that face. He kept looking at me, like saying, ‘Yeah? We’re good?’ With those twinkly eyes.”

The actor then went on to appear in multiple shows such as Black Mirror and New Girl, improving his acting skills. He was in Hawaii Five-o, Workaholics, Blood Drive, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. However, he reportedly also kept getting rejected from some roles due to his age. He reportedly got rejected from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as he was too old for the role of Finnick Odair.

Alan Ritchson as Hawk in Titans

While he began to play another superhero Hawk in the DC TV show Titans, he had reportedly auditioned to play the lead role of Dick Greyson a.k.a Robin/Nightwing. Ritchson mentioned that he felt that the audition went really well and was so sure that he had it in the bag that he bought a Tesla. Unfortunately, that was not the case. He said,

“I was so confident. I was like, ‘This is the best damn audition I’ve ever had in my life. There’s no way they can do this show without me.’”

The actor then went on to be cast as Hawk in the series, starting in a recurring role in season one of Titans and then being part of the main cast for season two.