Reacher fans are shocked to learn Alan Ritchson was on American Idol

It’s easy to forget that some stars have been on other shows. However, many Reacher fans have either forgotten or didn’t realize that Alan Ritchson was on American Idol back in the day.

Ritchson is certainly Jack Reacher from the books. He is everything we imagined, and it’s no surprise that the Amazon series has been a huge success. Many fans will remember Ritchson as Hawk on Titans or even as Gloss in Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Did you also know he played a Young Scully in Brooklyn Nine-Nine?

What many don’t realize is that he made it to TV back when he was 20. He didn’t want to be an actor back then. Instead, he wanted to be a pop star.

Reacher star’s American Idol audition resurfaces

We’re heading right back to the days when Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul were the judges on American Idol. This was in the days before X-Factor, after the UK’s Pop Idol series had kicked off singing reality TV as we know it now.

Alan Ritchson appeared during one of the seasons. Simon and Randy walked away from the audition to allow Ritchson to sing to Abdul on her own. Did it sway her decision to let him through?

Check out the audition on X, formally Twitter, here.

He can certainly sing. With what the audition was like, it’s not surprising to find out that he made it to Hollywood. However, he didn’t get any further than that. That’s probably a good thing because he may not have ended up with the acting career that he’s had, and we may have had someone else playing Jack Reacher.

We’re happy to have him over here as Reacher, but now we want to see Reacher have a need to sing.

Reacher is available to stream on Prime Video.