Spoilers for Reacher’s Season 3 finale are forward! In the event you haven’t seen it but, you’ll be able to stream it with an Amazon Prime subscription.
Ever because it was introduced that Reacher Season 3 would comply with Lee Childs’ e book Persuader and we discovered that Olivier Richters would play Paulie, we’ve been ready for the Reacher vs. Paulie battle. Effectively, of us, we have been lastly capable of watch it when the finale dropped on the 2025 TV schedule, and it didn’t disappoint. What makes it even higher is knowing simply how a lot work went into pulling it off, and fortunately, Richters advised me all about it.
After I requested Olivier Richters – who’s 7’2” and virtually a full foot taller than Alan Ritchson, who’s 6’3” – about filming the Paulie vs. Reacher battle, he instantly famous how exhausting he skilled. His co-star has been doing this for a very long time, and he’s an completed motion actor. So, the Dutch bodybuilder knew he wanted to “sustain,” explaining:
It began for me with 4 months of stunt coaching to be one of the best fighter ever, as a result of Alan is just not solely an excellent actor, however he is an excellent fighter as nicely. So I needed to sustain.
He positive did sustain, and he proved to be a worthy adversary for Reacher.
The battle entails Reacher getting slammed right into a truck, Paulie taking a bunch of punches, Reacher getting hung by a series and releasing himself from it, oh, and a completely wild battle within the water in addition to Paulie’s bloody loss of life. To not point out, the battle spans throughout a number of places and takes up about 14 minutes of the episode.
So, after seeing all that, it was put into perspective when Richters advised me how a lot effort and time went into capturing this ginormous motion sequence:
And it was many weeks of evening shoots and day shoots of generally 10 to 14 hours on set. Alan and me at [the] final evening we ended at 5:30 a.m. on the bridge, and we have been each devastated, and we hugged one another. We did it, and we thanked one another.
I additionally wish to thank them for placing their our bodies by means of this. I can’t think about how exhausting it should have been. Nonetheless, it regarded unbelievable on-screen. I believe it’s secure to say that after anticipating this second for a really very long time, it was nicely well worth the wait and work.
To essentially hammer that time house, Richters advised me that in the course of the press day, he spoke to Ritchson concerning the scene, they usually each agreed it was the “most bodily demanding factor” they’d ever carried out:
I simply spoke to him one hour in the past. He stated, ‘It was probably the most bodily demanding factor that I’ve ever carried out.’ And I stated, ‘Me too, me too.’ Yeah, I actually needed to get well from it.
Effectively, meaning so much coming from Alan Ritchson. The actor has made three seasons of Reacher and has filmed epic sequences which have required him to battle, be thrown into partitions and extra. Plus, the Jack Reacher actor stays in tip-top form. He’s no stranger to the demanding motion required for his Prime Video present. Nonetheless, this Paulie battle sounds prefer it was a distinct (and greater) beast.
Now, I’ve to return and re-watch this extremely anticipated second within the book-to-screen adaptation of Persuader to actually admire all of the work that went into it. For each Richters and Ritchson to say it was “probably the most bodily demanding factor” they’ve ever carried out is fairly wild, and it simply goes to indicate how outstanding this long-awaited and epic battle was.