Alan Ritchson opened up about Justin Hartley replacing him in the Aquaman pilot.
Back when Smallville was all the rage in the mid-2000s, Alan Ritchson appeared as Aquaman. Though Ritchson’s role in the series was brief – he only appeared in four episodes, he quickly became popular. After the success of the Aquaman episodes, a pilot based on Arthur Curry was announced, except Ritchson wasn’t invited back to the role.
Instead, Alan Rictchson was replaced by Justin Hartley for the pilot. While some would assume that Alan Ritchson would be upset by being replaced, that’s far from the case. In a recent episode of Inside of You, hosted by Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum, Ritchson was asked if he was “pi**sed” that he had been replaced.
“I wasn’t mad at all, why would I be mad?”
Alan Ritchson went on to explain how the Aquaman spin-off was originally going to have him in the lead after the astounding ratings from Smallville. Things began to go smoothly and work on a deal had begun when The President of UPN, which has just merged with Warner Bros. to create The CW, questioned who Ritchson was.
‘He’s looking at this roster of shows, the slate and going, who the hell’s that guy? Which is the same thing I would do! I was sitting there going like, I can’t believe it was this easy, I’ve been here three weeks. I got my own show?! Oh my gosh!’
Despite key individuals advocating for Ritchson to headline the Aquaman series, The CW president wouldn’t budge.
‘A week later, they were like actually, Justin Hartley just came off Passions and he’s available and we’re going to go with Justin Hartley.”
The Aquaman pilot with Justin Hartley eventually wasn’t picked up and was made available for download in the U.S on iTunes, where it did record numbers. Now, Alan Ritchson portrays the iconic spy Jack Reacher in Reacher.
Source: Inside of You (via Metro)
