Alan Ritchson's New 98-Minute Thriller Dominating Streaming Is What He Needs More Of Besides Reacher

Published Oct 24, 2026, 6:55 PM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

Alan Ritchson stars in this new action movie that has become a huge digital hit, and the actor needs to appear in more projects like these besides his work on Reacher. There is no denying that Ritchson's career would not be the same without the Jack Reacher role, which made him a worldwide fan-favorite. Prime Video's Reacher has aired four successful seasons.

The show is so popular that Reacher's future has been secured in the long run, with Ritchson confirmed to return in two more seasons of the action thriller series. Given how there are 31 Jack Reacher books, Ritchson could keep playing the action hero for as long as he wants to, and the streamer would have no problem with that, given that Reacher is one of Prime Video's most popular TV shows.

Reacher has also expanded beyond a single action thriller series, becoming a shared universe through the release of the Neagley spin-off, which sees Ritchson reprise the Jack Reacher role, and has been renewed for season 2. That said, Reacher is a gritty TV-MA action thriller series. It is focused on a specific side of the action genre, and Ritchson mostly plays within that compartment.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.

However, the actor's career has shown that Ritchson can excel in a variety of other genres, and even within the action department, the actor's credentials make him perfect for a type of project that does not always have to be what Reacher proposes. That is where Runner, Ritchson's new action movie, comes in, offering what the star needs more of besides Reacher.

Alan Ritchson's Runner Deserves Its Streaming Success After VOD Release

Runner was released in theaters on September 11. The new action movie starring the Reacher actor did not end up being a major box office hit. After all, Runner ended its theatrical run with just $18.1 million. That said, the action comedy is much better than its box office suggests, coming with a talented ensemble. Besides Ritchson, Runner also features major names like comedy master Owen Wilson and Westworld's Rodrigo Santoro, among others. Runner is now finding success on digital a month after the action movie arrived in theaters, experiencing a second wind.

Runner was released on VOD platforms on October 13. Merely a day later, the action movie starring Ritchson would become an instant digital sensation. Now, two weeks after Runner's VOD debut, the movie continues to perform on the medium, showcasing its staying power, and this sends a clear message about what audiences want to see from Ritchson at home besides Reacher on Prime Video. At the time of writing, Runner is the 6th most-watched movie on the Apple TV Store in the United States, as per FlixPatrol. At a stellar 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Runner deserves its newfound success.

Alan Ritchson Should Do More Action Comedies

© Angel / courtesy Everett Collection

Runner differs from Reacher in one key way, with the movie being an action comedy that makes the most of Ritchson's impeccable comedic timing, something the grittier, more mature Reacher uses only sporadically. Ritchson should be in more action comedies, as projects like Titans and Blue Mountain State have shown how the actor excels at them, with Runner perfectly merging something like Reacher with a more comedy-heavy project.

It seems like Ritchson has understood the assignment, as Runner came after Prime Video's Playdate, a global hit action comedy Ritchson starred in. The actor also has another such role on the way, the Christmas action comedy The Man with the Bag, which will see the actor share the screen with one of the genre's biggest stars.

That would be Arnold Schwarzenegger as Santa Claus, with The Man with the Bag set to premiere on Prime Video on December 2. While it is exciting that Ritchson has a long future planned as far as Reacher goes, it is just as important that he keeps exploring other ways to deliver fresh experiences in the action department, and more action comedies like Runner might be the way to do it.