“I owe it to the people who took a shot on me.”

Alan Ritchson is a man who lives a life full of gratitude, and there are few things he is more grateful about than landing the role of Jack Reacher in Amazon’s smash hit series Reacher. And the good news for fans? Both Ritchson and Amazon will be in partnership on the series for as long as is feasibly possible, as the two have revealed in a new feature for The Hollywood Reporter. Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon and MGM Studios, couldn’t praise Ritchson enough and knew he was the man for the job as soon as she saw his audition for the part.

The minute I saw [his audition], I was really thrilled. From the moment I looked at it, I remember this very clearly, he had everything. He had the stature, for sure, he’s got the sparkle behind the eye, he has the intelligence and the complexity of the character. He was delivering so many layers of the performance. Jack Reacher is sometimes a character of few words, but you can never feel like he’s got nothing going on. I always feel like a really rich inner life emanates from Alan as an actor.”

For Ritchson, the faith shown in him by the streaming platform is something he will never take for granted, following a host of near misses early in his career. “To me, Reacher has and always will be a fight to prove that they made the right decision. On set, I am always thinking, ‘How can I work hard enough to make them feel good?’ It’ll never go away. What got me ready for Reacher was all the losses that I took early on.”

How Long Will Alan Ritchson Play Jack Reacher?

That partnership has already proven lucrative for both parties. Reacher was an immediate sensation for Amazon, landing in first place on the streaming charts, a first for Amazon’s Prime Video. The streamer reported that it was among the most watched series debuts ever — it managed to garner 1.84 billion minutes of watch time during its debut week — and within days it was renewed for a second season. Very quickly after that, Amazon and Ritchson agreed a deal for the actor to sign a three-picture deal.

“We’ll have Alan as long as he will play Jack Reacher. No end in sight for that, hopefully that’s for a very, very, very long time,” said Selke, while Ritchson added: “I owe it to the audience to explore as many of these books as my body will allow, and I owe it to the people that took a shot on me when I was a huge risk for them. They have given me a real career.”

Ritchson will return to finish shooting the third season of Reacher in Toronto later this month once he wraps filming on Playdate, his upcoming action-comedy in which he stars alongside Kevin James. Reacher’s third season will premiere on Prime Video either at the end of the year, or the beginning of next. The first two seasons are streaming now on Prime Video.