Posted in: Amazon Studios, Preview, streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: Alan Ritchson, amazon, donald trump, prime video, Reacher, trump

Reacher: Alan Ritchson on "Repulsive" Christians & "Con Man" Trump

Reacher star Alan Ritchson opens up about his faith, calling out some Christians for making Donald Trump a "poster child" for Christianity.

Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter went live with an interview/profile of Reacher star Alan Ritchson, whose star continues to rise as Hollywood comes knocking on his door more and more. In both the piece and accompanying video (which you can check out above), Ritchson covers a wide range of topics pertaining to his personal life and professional career. One of those subjects was Ritchson's faith and the series of InstaChurch video sermons/messages that he's been posting on social media for some time. In fact, Ritchson expressed his concern that being outspoken about his faith could hurt his career with his wife. "I told her that it could be the last time I worked in this business," he shared. "I'm a Christian quite simply because of what Jesus calls us to do. Love other people until death. It doesn't mean we're all to be hung on a cross, but how can I suffer for you? That is a beautiful thing."

But as proud as he is of his Christianity, he also calls out those who claim to share his faith for becoming the kind of "vitriolic tribe" that "is so antithetical to what Jesus was calling us to be and to do." In particular, Ritchson is baffled how some who claim to be Christians could embrace someone like ex-reality show host & multi-impeached ex-POTUS Donald Trump – someone whom Ritchson does not mince words in his description. "Trump is a rapist and a con man, and yet the entire Christian church seems to be treating him like he's their poster child, and it's unreal. I don't understand it." While he proudly wears his Christian faith, Ritchson does not affiliate himself with the Catholic Church – and the actor is once again brutally honest with his reasoning for it. "It's worth saying that the atrocities that are happening in the church that are being actively covered up, even to this day with people not being held accountable, is repulsive," Ritchson explains. "I can't, for one second, support the Catholic Church while there are still cardinals, bishops, and priests being passed around with known pedophilic tendencies."

Reacher Season 3: What We Know So Far…

Back in January 2024, we learned that the third season would be tackling Lee Child's seventh novel, 2003's Persuader, with Reacher going undercover to rescue an informant held by a haunting foe from his past. In February, we learned that Anthony Michael Hall & Sonya Cassidy were joining Ritchson and the returning Maria Sten (Frances Neagley) during the currently-in-production season. Hall's Zachary Beck is a formidable & successful businessman  – and a widow and single father of a 20-year-old son, Richard – who owns a rug import company that Reacher believes is a cover for some shady dealings. Cassidy's Susan Duffy is an extremely intelligent and tough DEA agent from Boston with a sharp and sarcastic sense of humor.

In March 2024, we learned that Brian Tee had joined the cast in the series regular role of Quinn. A physically imposing and intimidating character, Quinn was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army whom Reacher (Ritchson) investigated a decade prior when he sold military secrets to hostile nations. In addition, Johnny Berchtold was cast in the series regular role of Richard Beck, a sensitive and artistic college student who lost his mother when he was young and is the only son of businessman Zachary Beck (Hall). Five years ago, he was the victim of a traumatic kidnapping that left him mutilated.

Roberto Montesinos' series regular Guillermo Villanueva is a DEA agent on the verge of retirement who has served as the mentor and father figure of Agent Susan Duffy (Cassidy). Paunchy with bad knees and a good-natured sense of humor, Villanueva loves and cares about Duffy – even though they bust each other's chops all the time. Daniel David Stewart's recurring Steven Elliot is a clean-cut rookie DEA agent – a lovable guy who's fresh-faced, new to the job, and still learning.

"Neagley [returning] was a strategic decision. The one thing you cannot do on screen that you can in a book is have the inside of somebody's head. Reacher thinks a lot, and there are pages and pages of Reacher puzzling things out. You can't write an eight-minute scene with Alan Ritchson sitting there, thinking. So we needed a secondary character to bolster the exposition," Child explained during an interview with Empire Magazine. As for the series jumping around when it comes to the novels that it's choosing for its season's inspiration, Child explains that it makes perfect sense – and fits with the story they're trying to tell on the small screen. "There was no reason to do them in order. We had massive discussions about it. The thinking went like this: 'Killing Floor' introduces Reacher as a person. So, which book shows his professional life and what he did while he was in the Army? The result was 'Bad Luck And Trouble,'" the author added.

Though not looking to make any spoiler headlines, Santora did have a few things to share about the series that he would like to see run for "at least four years" with The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview:

Santora on the Decision-Making Process in Selecting a Season's Book: "It's always a group decision. The studio has a lot of thoughts and ideas on it, as does Amazon, as they should because they know what they are doing. Alan will always have thoughts as well, because Alan is a really smart guy, and he has certain stories that are his favorites. And I also discussed it a lot with my writing team. They are great writers, and we all have instincts, for lack of a better word, as to which books might lend themselves to the screen a little bit better than others. And then we all collectively come to a decision, and then we all hope for the best!"

Santora on Maintaining Jack Reacher's "Loner" Spirit in Season 3: "What I can say is the spirit of Reacher is that he is a loner and a drifting hobo, to use Reacher's terminology. So, Reacher is never going to have a band of merry folks that travel along with him and help him solve crimes and have adventures. The DNA of Reacher is that he moves about on his own and teams up with good people when there's bad lurking about, and then he says goodbye to those people and goes on his way. And that's what we're always trying to stay true to."

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!