Credit: Inside the MagicFast & Furious star Alan Ritchson has revealed that he fumbled a chance to get cast in a major role early on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one that likely would have altered the course of his career. Even worse, the actor has confessed that he basically thought he would just get the role based on his looks.
Of course, we should not be crying too much for Alan Ritchson. The actor has amassed an impressive slew of credits, including playing Aquaman in the CW Smallville series years before Jason Momoa got there, getting killed by Jennifer Lawrence in the first Hunger Games sequel, and starring in a lead role on the popular Spike TV sitcom Blue Mountain State.
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Alan Ritchson starred in the most recent Fast & Furious film, Fast X (2023) as Aimes, a duplicitous covert ops agent who takes over the nebulous “Agency” after the departure of Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). In addition to prominently featuring in one of the biggest action franchises on the planet, Ritchson is also currently starring as Jack Reacher in Reacher, the critically acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series based on Lee Child’s book series. Basically, think: what if Sherlock Holmes were also a giant muscle man?
However, it is entirely possible that Alan Ritchson’s career might have gone in an entirely different direction if he had not relied on his looks to carry him through a Marvel audition. In a recent Men’s Health cover story, Ritchson revealed that he had auditioned to play Asgardian thunder god Thor in the 2011 film that introduced the character to the MCU. As the last 13 years have proved, it was actually a pretty big role for an actor to land.
According to Ritchson, “I didn’t take it seriously…I was like, ‘They’ll throw me the part if I look like the guy; nobody really cares about acting.’” Apparently, Ritchson was later told that he basically had the part in the bag, but his audition demonstrated that he didn’t have “the craft.”
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Chris Hemsworth was instead cast in the role of the mighty Thor and has now appeared in eight MCU movies, which has also made him one of the highest-paid actors in the world and a pop culture icon. Alan Ritchson has a great career, but it is funny to think of what might have been if he had put some more effort and less reliance on his looks into the audition.
Can you see Alan Ritchson as Thor, son of Odin? Give us your casting notes in the comments below!