Reacher Star Alan Ritchson Played A Hilarious Role On Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Alan Ritchson has been bashing skulls and getting justice on Prime Video's "Reacher" since 2022, bringing the hulking man-mountain from creator Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" books to life in the pulse-pounding series. The series has achieved the impressive feat of being one of the Prime Video shows without a single bad season. But before he starred as the former-military investigator, Ritchson played a young version of Norm Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller) on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."
Yes, the laid-back, food-obsessed detective used to be a rippling mass of muscle with a can-do attitude. Ritchson's size and physique are used as a stark contrast to the older version of Scully. What makes it so funny is that for most of the show, he and his partner, Michael Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker), are repeatedly made fun of for being lazy, greedy, or both.
But after six seasons of taking shots at Hitchcock and Scully, the "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" writers decided to put the not-so-dynamic duo in the spotlight.
Alan Ritchson and Wyatt Nash led a Hitchcock and Scully flashback episode
The Season 6 episode "Hitchcock & Scully" spends time exploring the pair's backstory, specifically when they were at the peak of their careers in 1986. Ritchson is partnered with "Pretty Little Liars" and "Riverdale" star Wyatt Nash as the young Michael Hitchcock. It essentially explains how they became the shlubby desk dwellers that they are in the present day, and it's all because of their mob informant, Marissa Costa (Decker Sadowski).
She thanks the pair for saving her from a dangerous marriage to mob boss Gio Costa (Daniel Di Tomasso) by giving them a free plate of chicken wings at a diner she works at called Wing Slutz. As soon as they start eating, Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" starts playing as the pair eat the wings in ecstasy instead of going to the gym "for the second time today."
And so, Hitchcock and Scully's love affair with junk food began, and it was all because they were rockstar cops tackling the mob. Ritchson told French outlet Serieously that one of the writers from Spike's "Blue Mountain State" enjoyed working with him on the comedy series and that he thought of him when the young Scully role came up on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." Well, if "Reacher" Season 5 doesn't go to plan, maybe Ritchson could pitch a young Scully & Hitchcock spinoff.