The actor admits he wasn’t the top choice for the role, for reasons including being too short

After two seasons of the hit series “Reacher,” it might be difficult to imagine anyone but Alan Ritchson in the title role. But Friday, the actor told the audience at the “Tonight Show” that he wasn’t the original top choice for the part. On top of that, he was so nervous during his audition that producer Don Granger could hear his heartbeat — thanks in part to the mic Ritchson wore during his COVID-era audition.

“It’s been a big success, but it was a really hard-fought win, this one,” Ritchson told host Jimmy Fallon. “This was not an easy get. I was never supposed to be Reacher. Big asterisks by this role for me. I feel lucky.”

“I had to audition … you know, they wanted the exact specifications. He’s 6’5″, I’m 6’3″. I’m automatically out! But I fought for this, I fought for this,” Ritchson said. “So, before Season 1, you know, usually there’s an audition process. You go in one or two times, if you’re lucky — you screen test.”

“But this was during COVID, so there was ample opportunity to just— where was I going to be, on a film? I’m in my basement,” to laughs from the crowd. “So was the rest of the world! So they go, we’re going to read you one more time, it’s pretty good. The executive of Skydance wants to see you. So I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll do it again.’”

“So I show up ready, but I was cheating, because I had this great setup in my house. I had an amazing camera — like a film camera, lights, I was mic-ing myself up, I was doing the whole thing. I was cheating,” he told Fallon, who replied, “Yeah, you have to.”

“You’re competing against the world’s finest actors for this part,” Ritchson said. “So I get near the end, we’re screen testing for this thing — this like, this is the most crucial step. And I mic myself up, do my little pat myself dry, we get in there and I do a scene. And it went really well, I made no mistakes. It was solid.”

“And Don Granger of Skydance — been Tom Cruise’s partner for a long time, guy’s a legend — he goes, ‘Yeah, um, that was a little distracting. Were you guys… did you guys hear– it sounded like drums or something.’ And Nick Santora, the showrunner, said, ‘Yeah, it almost sounded like a heartbeat to me, it was all I could hear. We need to do it again.’”

“And I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Ritchson said. “They go, ‘Are you wearing a microphone?’ I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I was that nervous! My heart was pounding so hard that it distracted the entire screen test.”

“So I go, ‘No,’ and I snuck off camera like this and ripped the microphone off,” Ritchson said, imitating his sneaky off-camera lean. “And I went back in and they were none the wiser. And I ended up with the part, and I got lucky. But almost lost it.”

Watch the interview with Alan Ritchson in the video above.