Joe Manganiello says his team wondered whether Tom Cruise had intervened after he lost the lead role in Reacher. Their theory involved Sofía Vergara, Manganiello’s wife at the time, who had reportedly dated Cruise in 2005.
“It was all just speculation,” Manganiello writes in Bloodlines, according to excerpts published by Entertainment Weekly. He says his representatives never received a clear explanation for the rejection.
Page Six, which reported the casting account on Oct. 12, said Cruise’s representatives did not respond to its request for comment.
The 49-year-old Magic Mike actor’s memoir was published Oct. 13 by Avid Reader Press. It follows his career alongside the prolonged health crisis he previously kept out of public view.
He Says the Producers Began Developing Reacher With Him in Mind
Manganiello places his first meeting with Skydance executive Don Granger in January 2020. During their roughly 90-minute conversation, he says, Granger praised his resemblance to Lee Child’s imposing former military policeman and his ability to convey the character’s intelligence.
Showrunner Nick Santora was enthusiastic enough about his audition to begin writing with him in mind, Manganiello says. He also recalls support from Skydance founder David Ellison and Child.
A Further Screen Test Followed Amazon’s Objections
Manganiello writes that he heard through his agents and Granger that Jennifer Salke, then head of Amazon Studios, was unhappy about being excluded from the casting process. According to his account, she objected to a screen test conducted without her approval and began reviewing other candidates.
After four weeks, he says, he was asked to prepare another five pages for a test against Smallville star Tom Welling. His friend Vince Vaughn advised him against it, arguing that the producers had already seen him perform 33 pages.
His managers persuaded him to continue, but he learned a few days afterward that he had not been selected. “I felt betrayed. I’d just wasted six months of my life,” he writes.
Ritchson’s Casting Announcement Did Not Name Cruise as a Producer
Alan Ritchson’s casting was announced on Sept. 4, 2020. The report carried by Skydance named Santora, Child, Granger, Ellison and several others as executive producers. Cruise was not among them, although Manganiello describes him as an executive producer in the memoir.
Cruise had played the character in 2012’s Jack Reacher and the 2016 sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. The television adaptation came from Amazon Studios, Skydance Television and Paramount Television Studios.
The first season adapted Child’s Killing Floor, bringing Reacher to the fictional town of Margrave, Georgia, where he is arrested in a murder investigation. All eight episodes premiered on Prime Video on Feb. 4, 2022.
Ritchson Also Recalled a Difficult Audition Process
In a February 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Ritchson described repeated auditions during the pandemic. He said he had to fight for the part rather than arriving as the obvious choice, TheWrap reported at the time.
Ritchson set up a camera, lights and microphone in his basement for the remote tests. During one crucial reading, Granger complained about a distracting sound, and Santora suggested it resembled a heartbeat.
The microphone was picking up Ritchson’s nerves. He said he moved out of frame, removed it without admitting what had happened and returned to finish the test.