Reacher Finally Casts Fan-Favorite Villain for Season 3
Black Widow and Indiana Jones actor Olivier Richters is set to play Paulie on Reacher.
The upcoming third season of Reacher is set to adapt one of the most popular novels in Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, and will officially include one of the franchise's most popular villains. Persuader, the seventh book in the series, is set in Maine and pits the titular hero in the middle of another massive conspiracy. The book also features a character named Paulie, perhaps the only antagonist in the series that towers over the famously enormous Jack Reacher. Star Alan Ritchson is already a mountain of a man, so fans have been curious to see who could land the role of Paulie and be a believably imposing force.
According to CinemaBlend, the role has gone to Dutch actor and bodybuilder Olivier Richters. If you're not familiar with the name, you've certainly seen Richters on screen in recent years. He played Ursa (the giant man arm wrestling Alexei in prison) in 2021's Black Widow. Last year, he appeared as the hulking muscle for Dr. Voller in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Richters stands at 7'2" and weighs over 300 pounds. Here's a picture of him sitting in an ordinary airplane seat just so you can get an idea of how massive he really is:
In Persuader, Child describes Paulie as at least six inches taller than Reacher, 10 inches broader, and outweighing him by 200 pounds. While Richters may not have that kind of weight advantage, he certainly looks the part. Paulie will undoubtedly provide Reacher with his biggest physical challenge yet.
CinemaBlend learned of the casting while speaking to Anthony Michael Hall, who is playing one of the main characters in Reacher Season 3. During the interview, he compared Richters to Jaws from the James Bond movies.
"He reminds me of, do you remember when we were kids? The Spy Who Loved Me, the Jaws character that Richard Kiel played? He was a literal giant, like seven foot two," Hall said. "That character (Paulie) does live in the show, and they have an epic battle. I don't want to give it away, but yeah, they definitely meet as they do in the book. ... You know, Reacher and Paulie colliding – there's something Marvel about that, right? They're like two superhero-sized guys, so it's kind of cool."
There has been no release date for Reacher Season 3 just yet, but it will likely arrive in the early months of 2025.
