Reacher star Alan Ritchson is the perfect Jack Reacher for TV even if isn’t the precise physical embodiment of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher.

No one in Hollywood actually has hands the size of plates, after all, but Ritchson does a damn fine job, even if he is 6’2″ rather than 6’5″ — and that is not to take away from Tom Cruise’s portrayal in the two Jack Reacher movies.

Ritchson has taken great pains to mention how much he values Cruise bringing this franchise to theaters and also setting the stage for a TV show.

He reiterated this in the above video while visiting Jimmy Kimmel, yet Ritchson’s attempt to tell Cruise these things did not exactly go off without a hitch. At around the 4:00 mark above, Ritchson laid it all there with how he penned a “heartfelt” letter to the Top Gun: Maverick star:

“Here’s the thing, I know what you know. He’s taken some criticism for the role, because he doesn’t aesthetically fit the role of Reacher perfectly, according to the books. This guy still did two movies that grossed over $300 million, and doesn’t even fit.

He’s brought so many eyes to this series. We would not have the success that we have without it. So out of gratitude, I write him a loving, heartfelt letter, a page-long letter, and I give it to Don Granger, a partner of his at Skydance…”

How did Don Granger respond? Ritchson was frank: “He said, ‘We’re not going to give it to him. It’s a terrible idea. He’s fine with it because he’s moved on in life. He’s moved on and you need to move on, too.’”

Fair enough. That had to sting a bit because, you know, it was a heartfelt letter! Yet everything worked out as it should, with Cruise going on his merry way to drive motorcycles off cliffs and Reacher now cranking through Season 2 (with Season 3 in the works) on Amazon.