Jack Reacher TV Show Being Developed Without Tom Cruise

Beloved book hero Jack Reacher is being developed into a TV series, according to author Lee Child, but there will be a new face in the iconic role for the next venture.

Action hero, Scientologist, the epitome of a movie star and my dad Larry Vick’s favorite actor, Tom Cruise will not play the part on TV. Cruise has embodied the literary hero for two feature films: 2012’s Jack Reacher and 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. According to Child, Cruise lacks the “physicality” to play Reacher. As my dad, who has seen every Cruise movie on opening weekend for the past 15 years, explained more bluntly to me, Cruise is too short to play the role. Reacher is described as 6’5 and blonde in Child’s best-selling novels, which is almost a foot taller than Cruise’s modest 5’7 (5’8 on red carpets with the right shoes).

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While many book-to-screen adaptations have featured some creative casting choices, the height thing is really important to Reacher fans. I know because Larry Vick, a man who thinks the critically panned The Mummy was a brave new venture for Cruise since he played “a real bad dude,” also claimed that Cruise wasn’t a believable choice for the Reacher role. That’s a huge indictment, but not of Cruise’s skills as an action hero. Mission Impossible: Fallout proved that the actor is still at the top of his game when it comes to punching bad guys in the face and doing death-defying stunts. My dad would like Cruise to know that he is still his “boy” that “Cruise is on cruise control,” even if he agrees this new direction for Jack Reacher is the right one.

The potential TV series is still in early production talks, according to Deadline, with producers still figuring out what the next story would be before shopping it to networks. We personally suggest Alexander Skarsgard, who stands at a looming 6’4 and much closer resembles the blond description in Child’s books.

Tom Cruise, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonPhoto: Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images