‘Reacher’: Alan Ritchson & Maria Sten Reveal How ‘Dark’ Season 3’s Big Bad Is (VIDEO)
Size definitely matters when it comes to Reacher‘s hulking, hot-as-hell anti-hero, played so perfectly by Alan Ritchson. Back in action for Season 3 of Prime Video’s hit, the strapping (yet delightfully down-to-clown) leading man is now caught up in a case based on author Lee Child’s seventh Reacher novel, “Persuader,” which finds the ex-military investigator going undercover in New England to save an informant that’s been abducted by an old foe…and going up against a beast of a baddie even bigger than he is (7’2’’ Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters).
Prime Video
Among the normal-sized cast members pitching in (or taking punches) are series regular Maria Sten as Reacher’s longtime ally Frances Neagley, as well as new additions Anthony Michael Hall (Bosch: Legacy) as a rug importer with some clearly shady connections and Sonya Cassidy (Lodge 49) as an edgy DEA agent sure to keep our guy on his toes. It’s a blast from the get-go, thanks to a first-episode twist that lets fans know that they are in for possibly the most fun season so far.
“Yeah it is! I’ve been telling people that, but nobody wants to listen to me,” agreed the enthusiastic actor when we had a recent chat with him and Sten. “You tell them!”
Joking that the twist involves his character’s immediate demise, Ritchson is clearly amped up about the idea of his usually nomadic do-gooder being back to working mostly solo, following last season’s Avengers-style collab with his former military team.
“This season there’s a reluctance to work together and there’s a necessity that they have information that they have to share to meet their own goals and ends,” he says of Reacher’s tenuous relationship with Boston law enforcement. “And so there’s this tension that exists between everybody. And I think that’s the fun of Reacher: You’ve got this lone wolf that does things his own way. He marches to the beat of his own drum and rules, norms be damned… We’re sort of back to that, which is I think where the special sauce is for Reacher.”
Prime Video
Of course no man is an island, even if he’s built like a mountain. So it doesn’t take long for him to reconnect with Sten’s fan favorite Neagley, but this time, it’s more of a check-in than a call-in. At first.
“Of course, [she] will always come to Reacher’s rescue, but I do think they set that up nicely so that we know that there is a world and a life outside of just getting Reacher out of trouble,” says Sten when we pointed out how the season seems to be smartly setting up her recently announced and well-deserved spinoff. “I think that’s really nice that we’ve sort of established that already, so now when we’re going to do the Neagley show, we know that, yes, she is actually living a life of her own when she’s not helping Reacher.”
Prime Video
That life may have to be put on hold later on, since it becomes very clear as the episodes play out that Reacher is, as he puts it, dealing with one of worst humans he’s ever encountered. So how bad is this season’s real Big Bad?
“I’ll give you this actually,” Ritchson offers. “I got a call from [Nick] Santora, our showrunner and he was very concerned. He was like, ‘I think I might need you to come in and swing a bat to fight for an idea.’ The powers-that-be were so concerned—not throwing any names out there—about how dark this one scene is that we shot that sort of establishes just how evil this dude is. They didn’t want to show it. They want to sort of cut around it and just sort of hint at it.”
“And [Nick] goes, ‘I think this is one of your best performances’ and I think…without that scene, you’re sort of wondering exactly what you just asked. Why do we care this season? It has to happen. And so we sort of threw down and thankfully, we got to preserve a lot of what was there, but it’s dark. It’s dark. What this dude does is dark and we’re going to get to see that,” he warns. “The audience will be on Reacher’s side on this one for sure.”
Like it’s a good idea to not be on this guy’s side?
Reacher, Season 3 Premiere, Thursday, February 20, Prime Video
From TV Guide Magazine
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