Alan Ritchson on Blowing Thor Audition, Taking Testosterone, Living with Bipolar Disorder

Speaking in a new interview with Men’s Health, the actor shares that he was super-confident his big breakthrough moment had come when he starred in Spike TV’s (now Paramount) 2010 comedy, Blue Mountain State. He even got a follow-up film out of the project.

“I just sort of expected that there would be a cornucopia of comedies for me to choose from,” he said. “And nobody really wanted to see me for anything.” This was five years after scoring the role of Aquaman on Smallville didn’t land him any superhero or action roles.

He did get a shot at another superhero, but admits that he didn’t take it seriously enough. At more than six feet tall and ruggedly handsome with light hair, RItchson thought he was a lock for Marvel’s Thor when he walked into a 2011 audition.

“I didn’t take it seriously,” he said of the audition. “I was like, ‘They’ll throw me the part if I look like the guy; nobody really cares about acting.” He would ultimately lose the role to Chris Hemsworth, who continues in it to this day.

To make matters worse for the actor, still more than a decade from his own action breakthrough, his people were informed that the role had been his to lose. Apparently, he was a lock for it, but he’d failed to show them he had “the craft.”

After that misstep, Ritchson took “the craft” of acting more seriously, enrolling in classes, and spent a decade settling for smaller roles in projects like Black Mirror, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Finally, he got his superhero role in Titans as Hawk from 2019 to 2021. From there, he moved onto the lead position of Reacher, and now finds himself at a whole new level.

“I had about 50 offers the weekend after season 1 of Reacher opened,” he said. “I knew my life had changed.”

After working relentlessly through the first season of the hit Prime Video series, Ritchson was told he’d lost too much weight. Dealing with an injured shoulder and with time before Season 2, a doctor recommended testosterone-replacement therapy.

Saying he has little patience for any pushback about TRT, Ritchson said it has helped him keep the weight he wants on. At the same time, he acknowledged what he heard from someone, that it is “steroids with a doctor’s note.”

“I guess it is,” he acknowledged. “I didn’t even know that it was considered an anabolic steroid to some people. It was just: There was a hormone that was missing for me, and I needed it.”

On top of managing his physical health, Ritchson has taken responsibility for his mental health, as well, since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 36 years old. Part of that includes seeing a psychiatrist weekly and being open with his wife and assistant, who know how to help see symptoms.

He said the symptoms are usually somewhat mild — and sometimes even humorous — when he’s at home. An example he brought up was he’ll be feeling, “I gotta find a perfectly white pair of shoes that look like a tennis shoe but aren’t.” Then, three days later, “eight pairs of shoes show up that are all identical.”

At work, he said it manifests more as a strive toward perfection. “When I’m manic and I feel like something isn’t living up to its best potential, it usually comes out in a very—not in a mean way—but in a ‘this has to be better’ way. Like a very, almost obsessive ‘this has to be better.’ ”

In another instance, he said that his manic episodes actually pushed a stunt coordinator to resign after the first season (they have since returned). When he was urged not to do a fight scene, he pushed back hard. “I was like, ‘I’m doing the f–king stunt!” Ritchson said.

When he’s feeling depressive, conversely, he said it’s not even usually noticed while working “because I am so focused,” he said it “could go weeks without people even knowing I feel a certain way.”

What he’s found in the years since his diagnosis is a sense of purpose, and the power of being open about his own experiences. Ritchson revealed that he was actually haunted by suicidal thoughts five years go, but then he started talking about his mental health on platforms like his YouTube channel and InstaChurch.

It’s the thought that his experience could touch others and help them feel less alone in their own situations that helps him to feel less alone in his.

He’s also found help in meditation, which he described as being “about manually shifting back into a calmer brain state.” And then there’s prayer and his 15 minutes of alone time in the sauna. “That’s Zen time,” he said.

Thanks to his work on Reacher, Ritchson has found himself being taken more seriously as an actor, and seeing offers for dramatic projects. His schedule has been packed tight, too.

On top of his hit show, Ritchson appeared in Fast X and has roles in two upcoming films, Ordinary Angels and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. After years of reaching for it, it certainly looks like Ritchson has finally achieved his dream.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress