‘Reacher' Season 3's Trio Of Villains Talk Alan Ritchson And More
Reacher Season 3 is well underway, which means a whole new set of villains are taking on Alan Ritchson's Jack Reacher.
Based on author Lee Child's seventh Jack Reacher novel Persuader, Reacher Season 3 got underway with a three-episode premiere on Prime Video on Feb. 20. Episode 7 debuts on Thursday.
Season 3 of the hit series finds Reacher in Boston. When Reacher spots Xavier Quinn (Brian Tee) — a once-powerful member of military intelligence who brutally murdered Dominique Kohl (Mariah Robinson) when she was under the Reacher's charge in the Army's 110th Military Special Investigations Unit — he seeks revenge. However, he is going to need some help.
As such, Reacher teams up with Boston-based Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Susan Duffy (Sonya Cassidy), who needs the former MP to infiltrate the rug-importing business of Quinn's associate Zachary Beck (Hall), whom she suspects is running drugs and holding her informant hostage.
But Quinn — who goes by alias Julius McCabe — and Beck aren't the only criminals Reacher has to worry about. Beck employs a 7-foot 2-inch bodyguard named Paulie (Richters), whom Reacher immediately butts heads with.
For Richters, playing Paulie was a dream come true for the bodybuilder known as 'The Dutch Giant.'
'I've been waiting for a role like this for many years. As much as I liked the roles I did before, like Indiana Jones [and the Dial of Destiny], it all comes back to grunting, throwing punching,' Richters told me in a recent Zoom conversation that was also attended by Tee and Hall. 'I wanted to go to the next level and Paulie was the next level.'
A big part of that next level for Richters is the dynamic he has with Ritchson throughout the season. As viewers in the series have learned throughout Season 3, the tension between Reacher and Paulie begins to mount the first time the two meet, creating a path to an inevitable showdown between the two titans.
What made the role extra special for Richters was that he was already a big fan of the Reacher series when he got the audition to play Paulie.
'I got the cast halfway through watching Season 2, so it felt like I was living in The Matrix,' Richters enthused. 'As a fan, I was watching the show and six months later, I was [standing]
While the forthcoming showdown between Reacher and Paulie promises to be epic ('I can't give spoilers, but it might be the best fight ever created for a television show,' Olivier Richters said), it's not the only tense encounter the former MP-turned-lone wolf investigator is facing this season.
Reacher, in fact, is hyper-focused on making Xavier Quinn pay the ultimate price for murdering Dominique Kohl, so fans have plenty of reason to anticipate their face-to-face encounters. Brian Tee was certainly excited.
"Reacher is a fan favorite across the world, it's a blockbuster hit show and any actor wants to be a part of something extremely big and amazing,' Tee said.
Plus, the actor added, 'Alan's an incredible human being. We've actually worked together prior to this" (Tee played Shredder opposite Ritchson's Raphel in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows).
This time around, Tee is playing an antagonist opposite Alan Ritchson, and he couldn't be any more thrilled.
'I just wanted to jump in and have fun playing a villain,' Tee said. 'It's good to be bad. I think you get away with so much more … I've played both villains and protagonists and always like to lean into the villain-type of characters just because there's so much fun to play.'
Playing a villain opposite Ritchson was certainly thrilling to Anthony Michael Hall in Reacher Season 3. And while Hall's big break in the business came in the comedy space in such John Hughes classics as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, the showbiz veteran said he never once concentrated on having a career solely in comedy.
I've always wanted a [wide-ranging] career, even as a young man. I wanted to always mix it up. The actors that I love find a way to do that, so I like doing that,' Hall said. 'I like going from light to dark and anything in between. To be honest, maybe some people like to create a perception that they chose this and chose that. I think the projects kind of choose you in a way sometimes.'
The key for Hall, no matter what space he operates in, is doing good work — something his resume of over 100 screen roles would attest to.
'It's survival of the fittest, an actor's career,' Hall observed. 'There's nothing ever a given or guaranteed, so it cultivates a good work ethic and I'm just grateful that I've had a long run. This is my 49th year in the business I started when I was 8 years old. It's kind of surreal … So wow, I just feel blessed and grateful to God that have had a long career, and that's the gift in itself.'
Reacher Season 3, Episode 7 is new on Prime Video on Thursday, which will be followed by the season finale next week.
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