Alan Ritchson's Upcoming Action Thriller Is His Most Exciting 2026 Release

2026 is likely Alan Ritchson’s lucky year. War Machine already gave the man a Netflix hit, and now he’s back as Jack Reacher on Prime Video. Season 4 throws the character into a Philadelphia conspiracy based on Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow. The spin-off series Neagley is premiering in September, and the actor’s Christmas movie called The Man with the Bag is still on its way. That’s a lot of Alan Ritchson content for one calendar year, but I’m not complaining.

Still, out of every upcoming Ritchson project in 2026, Runner is the one I’m most excited about. The action thriller will be released in theaters on September 11, which puts it right in the middle of a very busy stretch for Ritchson. Reacher gives him the role that turned him into one of TV’s biggest action stars. However, Runner gives him something he doesn’t get very often: a completely new role without a pre-existing fanbase telling us what he should look like. After watching the actor comfortably settle into action roles, I’m curious to see what he does with Runner.

What Is ‘Runner’ Actually About, and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?

In Runner, Alan Ritchson plays Hank Malone, a courier tasked with taking a liver from Brisbane to the Gold Coast in three hours to save a dying child. Owen Wilson plays Ben Bishop, the guy who brought the organ in the first place. He becomes Hank’s reluctant partner-in-chaos once a cartel decides the liver is worth killing for. Rodrigo Santoro plays the antagonist, Damian Zaldívar. Leila George, Adriana Barraza, and Sullivan Stapleton round out a cast that is stacked beyond what you would expect from a movie with this kind of plot.

Runner is directed by Scott Waugh, and if that name sounds familiar, it’s because he made Act of Valor, Need for Speed, and The Expendables 4. This isn’t his first rodeo, and he knows how to pair action and comedy in interesting ways. The Runner trailers back that up too, promising fistfights, verbal jabs, explosions, and a car chase structured around a medical deadline. The movie has a ticking clock that many action thrillers only pretend to have.

Based on the footage so far, it feels like Ritchson is leaning into something a little looser and funnier than Reacher. The Ritchson-Wilson pairing is probably what sells me most. These two actors operate on completely different frequencies. Ritchson can walk into a room and make everyone squirm, while Wilson has perfected the art of looking mildly annoyed by whatever disaster has occurred around him. Wilson’s name alone guarantees a few scenes won’t be serious. After four seasons of watching Jack Reacher grimly punching his way through villains and corruption, seeing Ritchson bounce off Wilson will be a fun swing.

‘Runner’ Could Give Alan Ritchson His Best New Action Role Yet

If you zoom out, there’s a pattern forming here. Ritchson has spent his post-Reacher press cycles talking about wanting more physicality and more hands-on control over his fight choreography, and he’s been doing exactly that behind the scenes on Reacher since Season 3. Runner fits into that same mold. The story is built entirely around momentum, as it finds Ritchson moving through obstacles as fast as possible. It’s basically Reacher’s personality distilled into a 97-minute sprint. This time, however, no one is stopping to interrogate a small-town sheriff about zoning permits.

So far, Ritchson has played characters who solve problems through brute force, and that works great. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for humor that isn’t dry as a bone, though. Wilson’s whole brand is undercutting tension with whatever half-improvised line comes to mind. So, it’s going to be wild to see these two stars in a car together for most of Runner. Ritchson’s Hank has to improvise, protect someone else, deal with obstacles he can’t simply punch his way through, and keep moving because every minute matters.

So yeah, Reacher’s back, Neagley is coming, and Season 5 is already cooking. Alan Ritchson clearly doesn’t know how to take a break, and Runner is the movie I would bet on delivering the most fun per minute this year. It feels like the first time in a while he gets to be fast and a little funny instead of just indestructible. Mark September 11 on your calendar. After all, that liver isn’t getting to the Gold Coast on its own.