20 Years Ago, Warner Bros. Recast Alan Ritchson With Justin Hartley For An Action Series

While Alan Ritchson and Justin Hartley are now known for playing similar antiheroes in similar action thriller shows, the two stars first crossed paths far earlier than expected in an early DC TV show. Thanks to the success of Prime Video’s Reacher, star Alan Ritchson is finally receiving recognition as a leading man. However, the actor’s path to stardom was longer and rockier than readers might assume, as he has been acting professionally since the early ‘00s.

Ritchson’s breakout role as the party animal Thad in the cult comedy series Blue Mountain State prompted a feature-length movie spinoff, Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland, in 2016. The star then turned this profile boost into guest appearances in a wide range of shows throughout the late 2010s, from sitcoms like New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine to genre fare like Black Mirror and Legends of Tomorrow.

However, long before the part of Thad came calling, and even longer before Prime Video’s Reacher made him a mainstream A-list leading man, Ritchson’s first big TV role came when he played Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, in an episode of Smallville. This role was short-lived since, when The WB and UPN merged to become The CW shortly after Ritchson’s guest spot, they shot an Aquaman TV show pilot with Tracker’s Justin Hartley replacing Ritchson as Aquaman.

Alan Ritchson Played Aquaman On Smallville Before Justin Hartley

Hartley’s Aquaman show wasn’t greenlit, but the Tracker actor would eventually play Green Arrow in Smallville, while Ritchson returned as Aquaman for more episodes. Although Aquaman never learned Clark Kent’s famous secret, Hartley’s Green Arrow was one of a handful of Smallville characters who learned Superman’s identity in the show. In season 6, episode 10, ”Hydro,” both superheroes learned each other’s secret identities.

This ensured that Hartley’s version of Green Arrow was a bigger presence in Smallville than Ritchson’s take on Aquaman, who only appeared in a grand total of four episodes. Although Ritchson’s later success as Reacher seems to prove the actor later outdid his early screen rival, the truth isn’t that straightforward. After all, Hartley won the lead role of Colter Shaw on CBS’s action thriller Tracker back in 2024, and critics and fans alike now compare Tracker to Reacher all the time.

Smallville Wasn’t The Last Time Hartley and Ritchson’s Screen Careers Intersected

Custom image by Yeider Chacon

While Colter Shaw is a bounty hunter who collects money in exchange for hunting down various criminal villains, Reacher is a soldier of fortune who travels from city to city, unintentionally unearthing criminal conspiracies. Thus, it’s easy to see how viewers who enjoy both shows can see more than a few similarities between them, especially when Tracker is based on author Jeffrey Deaver’s novel, The Never Game, while Reacher is adapted from author Lee Child’s novel series of the same name.

Although Ritchson’s War Machine franchise proves that the star has diversified his offerings in recent years, it is still striking to look back and see just how much his and Hartley’s careers intersected early on. Both stars played the same iconic DC Comics superhero for The CW early in their screen careers, while also technically appearing as different superheroes in the same show during their Smallville guest spots.

While Ritchson returned to DC small-screen superhero stardom when he played Hawk in Titans, Hartley was busy with the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, the drama This Is Us, and a recurring role in the ABC mysteries Revenge and Mistresses in the intervening years. Then, their paths crossed again when Tracker and Reacher gave both Smallville stars similar roles in competing projects once more, although the shared success of both Alan Ritchson and Justin Hartley’s new shows luckily proves both stars can emerge from this multi-decade rivalry as winners.

Release Date

2001 – 2011

Showrunner

Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Brian Peterson, Kelly Souders, Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer

Directors

Mike Rohl, Jeannot Szwarc, Glen Winter, Terrence O’Hara, Whitney Ransick, Mairzee Almas, Paul Shapiro, Rick Rosenthal, David Carson, James L. Conway, Chris Long, Michael Katleman, Morgan Beggs, Allison Mack, David Barrett, Marita Grabiak, Michael W. Watkins, Philip Sgriccia, Rick Wallace, Thomas J. Wright, Todd Slavkin, Brad Turner, Charles Beeson, Craig Zisk

Writers

Steven S. DeKnight, Holly Henderson, Don Whitehead, Caroline Dries, Mark Verheiden, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Philip Levens, Jordan Hawley, Kenneth Biller, Michael Green, Drew Z. Greenberg, Geoff Johns, John Chisholm, Drew Landis, Julia Swift, Doris Egan, Tracy Bellomo, Garrett Lerner, Greg Walker, Russel Friend, Shintaro Shimosawa, Tim Schlattmann, todd helbing