The latest episode of Reacher Season 3 featured one of its most intense moments yet—a high-stakes game of Russian Roulette that left both the characters and the cast deeply unsettled. In the scene, the man believed to be Julius McCabe (Brian Tee), the ruthless enforcer for Bizarre Bazaar magnate Zachary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall), forced Beck’s son Richard (Johnny Berchtold) into multiple rounds of the deadly game. Meanwhile, Beck watched in terror, unable to intervene as Paulie (Olivier Richters) held a gun to his head.
McCabe, whom Reacher (Alan Ritchson) knew as Xavier Quinn, used the terrifying ordeal to send a clear message—Beck’s failure to control his operation, allowing federal agents and an undercover Reacher to infiltrate, was unacceptable. For Hall, who plays Beck, the scene was emotionally intense and physically exhausting, especially with the demanding overnight shoot.
Personally, I was very charged up to do that scene. We happened to be shooting at the back mansion, and we got to the scene late at night…. It was an all-nighter for us, and to maintain that level of energy was a lot of fun. That’s one thing you learn, is sort of how to contain your energy, how to reserve it.
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Hall acknowledged that maintaining focus during the lengthy and emotional scene required some unconventional techniques.
All I have to do is step outside and freeze my ass off in Toronto, That is a wake-up!
he joked
For Tee, the scene was driven by the intense energy shared between the actors. “I mean, it was an intense scene. No question,” Tee said.
It was great to be able to bump heads and then also feed off of each other’s energy, and act and react, because I think that the best scenes come alive that way. We have to be authentic in every single moment to make it really pop, and I think we accomplished that, for sure.
As the imposing enforcer Paulie, Olivier Richters had a close view of the intense scene and found it challenging to stay in character during Hall’s emotional performance.
I felt so sorry for your [on-screen] son, because I was there watching, and I had to keep my straight face [as Paulie], But it was so sad to see!
Richters said to Hall.
New episodes of Reacher premiere on Thursdays on Prime Video.