Alan Ritchson shares the hardest scene he had to shoot in Reacher Season 3

Alan Ritchson returns as the fan-favorite hobo Jack Reacher in Reacher season 3, which premiered on Prime Video on February 20, 2025, with the first three episodes. The season follows Jack as he teams up with the DEA to take down a criminal enterprise from the inside.

The show is known for its intense sequences, and Alan Ritchson has now talked about the most challenging scene for him to shoot in the new season. In the third episode, the actor revealed a scene where Jack swims through cold waters to meet Susan Duffy, which was the hardest to film.

Ritchson had to strip to his shorts for the scene in the cold and take a dive into the water, which made it extremely difficult. However, the hard work paid off, as the scene was well received by the audience.

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Alan Ritchson talks about the challenges of filming the swimming scene in Reacher Season 3

Alan Ritchson recently had an interview with Entertainment Weekly, where he talked about how he does not have fond memories of shooting the swimming scene, but he did it anyway for the sake of the series. The actor said:

“It was tough. That water work was pretty tricky, and stripping down and crawling across those cold, wet rocks naked was not the funnest for me and for just about anybody watching — but we did it because we love the show."

Reacher season 3 is based on Lee Child’s novel Persuader. Ritchson said when he read the book, he was hoping that the series creators would do away with the scene, which eventually did not happen:

“Having read the book and enjoying it, that was the one [part] that I was like, 'I hope we skip over that. Maybe [Reacher] just crawls across the lawn, maybe he stays on the grass. But no, we actually built most of that world in a gigantic indoor pool.”

The scene appears in Reacher season 3, episode 3, when Jack wants to meet up with DEA agent Susan Duffy without raising suspicion. Since he is staying in Zachary Beck’s heavily guarded mansion, he has no option but to sneak out from the back door and swim across the waters to reach the other end of the shore.

When Susan sees Jack and realizes to what extent he had to go to meet her, even she is left shocked. Developed by Nick Santora, Reacher season 3 also stars Sonya Cassidy, Johnny Berchtold, Olivier Richters, Anthony Michael Hall, Brian Tee, and Roberto Montesinos in pivotal roles.

Reacher season 3 airs new episodes on Prime Video on Thursdays.