“Reacher” star Alan Ritchson is lauded for his performance as the title character, former U.S. Army MP and full-time do-gooder Jack Reacher. The character is a mix of brains and brawn, and while Ritchson probably has no problem playing a savvy, street smart investigator with a Sherlock Holmes-like gift for putting clues together, convincing the audience that he was a walking mountain of muscle took a little more work and commitment. Already standing an impressive 6 feet, 3 inches, all that remained was packing on the pounds.

Speaking to GQ magazine, Ritchson described how he got into shape and added weight to play a book-accurate Jack Reacher. “I was eating a ton,” he told the magazine. “I didn’t take steroids, I didn’t take testosterone. There was only one way to get where I needed to be and that was hard work.” But according to the actor, the training took its toll on his health, too: “I f***ing wrecked my body.” 

That wreckage came from a brutal workout regimen on top of all the calories he was taking in. And when it was all said and done, it wasn’t just body pains and bruises that he had to deal with, as the amount of training he took on for the role fundamentally altered his body chemistry: “I got a blood panel done [after Season 1] and found out I had no testosterone left.” 

Alan Ritchson isn’t the first man to play Jack Reacher on screen, with Tom Cruise taking on the role in two feature films released in the mid-2010s. Though well reviewed and fairly successful at the box office, fans of the Jack Reacher books weren’t thrilled with Cruise’s portrayal of their favorite hero, and not because he runs funny. Cruise, at just 5 feet, 7 inches, is far from the towering figure described by author Lee Child. That’s just one reason why fans adore Ritchson and his commitment to portraying the character faithfully on screen, proving that Tom Cruise was the worst Jack Reacher.

Ritchson himself understood the assignment and worked extremely hard to get into shape just to land the role, reportedly being told he had to put on nearly 30 pounds before he would even be considered. Nevertheless, while he agrees that his size does matter, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. “There’s no doubt that people place a big emphasis on his size, but to me, the character is much more than that,” he told GQ. It’s not just the brains part that Reacher needs, though, but — perhaps surprisingly — his sense of humor. 

“The heart of the character really lies in his sardonic sense of humor, which is incredibly fun to play,” Ritchson explained. “That underlying humor is what brings depth to him as a character, and also keeps audiences entertained.” Although it’s likely we won’t see a Jack Reacher movie with Alan Ritchson, we hope that he’ll keep entertaining us on the “Reacher” TV series for many seasons to come.