Few can say their careers kicked off with a striptease on American Idol, but Alan Ritchson isn’t your average celeb. Following breakout roles in Smallville and Blue Mountain State, the Virginia native truly became a household name after landing the titular role in Prime Video’s Reacher, and it’s largely been a non-stop whirlwind ever since, both for better and for worse. With Season 4 set to wrap filming ahead of hitting the 2026 TV schedule, Ritchson is realizing the importance of taking a break and saying “no.”
As someone who wasn’t born into a famous family, and lived on the opposite side of the country from Hollywood, Ritchson likely didn’t see himself destined to become one of the biggest celebs in the country a few decades later. Speaking with Collider, he addressed his lack of stability in his late teens and how suffering those hardships at an early age calcified into something he could utilize. In his words:
I grew up without a lot. I started running away from home when I was 16. I lived in a truck for a long time behind a grocery store. And then when I was able to move into the projects when I was 18, I moved into the projects. I’ve always known I need to explore and experience things for myself to learn. And I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I just sort of wanted to be anywhere but where I was. And when you come from that kind of background, you have a kind of grit and determination to sort of do anything to survive.
It’s a relatable feeling, especially for anyone who also came from the Have-Not side of the tracks. After going without luxuries for so long, one can easily be swayed into agreeing to do anything as long as there’s a prize at the end. In Ritchson’s case, reaching a certain acting status opened him up to more and more offers for projects, and the survivalist instincts inside of him likely made it difficult for him to justify turning anything down. He continued:
For me, that’s manifested in my career in ways that I’ll say yes to everything if there’s time. . . . I’m reaching a place where it’s actually dangerous to kind of operate with that mindset. Because quality matters so much at this point. The kind of jobs that I do matter so much. The kind of filmmakers that I work with matter so much. I have to be more selective and careful. That’s just on the career side.
The timing of these quotes isn’t as interesting as Alan Ritchson’s genuine sentiment, but I don’t think it’s entirely a coincidence that he’s talking about the importance of quality so soon after his new comedy opposite Kevin James was completely roasted by critics and audiences. By and large, the Titans vet was the best thing about it, as he’s a genuinely funny dude, even if his co-star was unaware.
Three more movies dot the horizon in Ritchson’s future, all action movies with varying subgenres. Adam Shankman’s comedic Christmas romp The Man with the Bag, Patrick Hughes’ sci-fi War Machine, and Scott Waugh’s thriller Runner. (The actor shared a bloody shot of himself from the latter, which obviously isn’t proof that it’ll be great, but it doesn’t hurt.)
That said, the Fast X co-star’s need to turn more things down isn’t just about project quality and how it’ll affect his career. Being so busy has also taken its toll on Ritchson’s personal life and his family dynamic. He opened up about how he and his wife had to adjust their past lifestyle to factor their kids’ needs in, which meant going from being a full unit most of the time to splitting apart for longer stretches. As he put it:
We homeschooled the kids for a long time, and up until my oldest is 13 now, up until he was 12, and they started craving normalcy and friendship and stability and community and wanted traditional school. So, what we thought we were doing a good thing for them by traveling together all the time, and they started to resent it and resent me in a lot of ways. So, now, they live away from me, and so, you know, the pendulum has swung all the way to the other side, and I never see them.
He says that weekends are where he makes the biggest effort to see everyone, but that he doesn’t foresee a future where there will be an easy way to keep that going. As such, the clearest solution for him is just to pump the brakes and take his first break in nearly three years.
If Alan Ritchson is truly looking to take some time off, maybe he should start backing away from all the talk about playing DCU Batman and other DC roles, since that kind of franchise life could completely take over. But that goes against my inner wishes for him to play the DCU Batman…