These days, Alan Ritchson is best known for starring in the action series Reacher and movies like Fast X and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. But long before those projects, he left his mark on the DC Comic TV space by first playing Aquaman in a few Smallville episodes, then Hawk in Titans Season 1 through 3. Ritchson has now confirmed he’s in talks for a role in the DC Universe franchise, and I’m living for how he described the kind of character we could see him play in an upcoming DC movie and/or upcoming DC TV show.
While promoting his 2025 movie Play Date, which premieres to Amazon Prime Video subscription-holders next week, Ritchson confirmed to ScreenRant that he has been in discussions about joining the DCU. He had this to say about whether he’d want to play a hero again or a villain instead:
Yeah. Yes. That’s the conversation that I’ve been having with them is like, ‘I want to play somebody a little messier.’ And I told them, I said, if I’m going to do this, I described to them the kind of personality that I’d want to play and what that would mean to their world, and I think it’s something everybody wants to see right now over there. So yes, I want to play somebody a little dirtier than your typical clean-cut protagonist.
It’s good Alan Ritchson’s talks with DC Studios are going well so far, but now I’m eager to learn what role he’d be playing if this ends up working out. After playing two superheroes, I can’t say I blame him for wanting to tackle a character who doesn’t fit that traditional mold. However, I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that Hawk, a.k.a. Hank Hall was messy to a degree during his time on Titans, from his complicated relationship with Dawn Granger, a.k.a. Dove, and his more brutal methods of dealing with criminals.
Given his star power, I think it’s safe to say that if Alan Ritchson joins the DCU, it would either be as a leading character for a specific project or as a key supporting character in someone else’s project whom he’d be able to continue playing. For the latter, think along the lines of how Jason Momoa is debuting as Lobo in Supergirl. Of course, there’s no shortage of fans who’ve thought Ritchson would be a good fit to play the DCU’s Batman, and DC Studios co-head James Gunn at least sounds open to that casting. Just don’t expect Ritchson to play a new version of Aquaman.
While we wait to see if anything comes from Alan Ritchson’s conversations with DC Studios, feel free to revisit his prior superhero roles by streaming Smallville and Titans with you Hulu subscription and HBO Max subscription, respectively. Otherwise, catch him getting into action-heavy hijinks with Kevin James in Play Date starting Wednesday, November 12.