Prior to making a name for himself as Jack Reacher on the hit Prime Video series Reacher, Alan Ritchson almost starred as Aquaman in his own series on The CW.

alan ritchson as jack reacher

Even before he played Thad Castle on Blue Mountain State, Ritchson featured as Arthur Curry / Aquaman in four episodes of the Superman series Smallville.

According to Ritchson, that role as Aquaman would’ve led to his own spinoff show had UPN not merged with Warner Bros. and become The CW.

“I was thrust into a situation with Smallville where I was promised a spinoff right away. The ratings were record-setting in season five when I came in. I had all these people in Hollywood saying to me, ‘You are the guy. You’re going to be No. 1 on the call sheet right away,’” Ritchson told The Hollywood Reporter.

“And then there was a merger between UPN and Warner Bros. to create The CW. The president of UPN took over, looked at the slate and said, ‘Who is this dude with no résumé at all? He’s not getting his own show,’” he said.

“So, in the middle of our negotiations, it fell apart. It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It taught me to hold on very loosely to the things that we hope for in this business, to never have any expectations and just enjoy whatever actually manifests.”

Despite losing out on the Smallville spinoff, things have ultimately come full circle as he not only plays a human superhero on Reacher but is also being fan-cast in roles such as Batman in the DCU and Sentry in the MCU.

Ritchson also previously played Hank Hall/Hawk on the DC shows Titans, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow.

Whatever Ritchson does next, especially if it’s comic book-related, he needs to choose carefully, as starring in the wrong superhero movie can derail an up-and-coming A-lister’s career.