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Season 4 of Prime Video’s hit series Reacher introduces Sydelle Noel as Tamara Green — but the actress nearly played a very different pivotal role.
“I did not watch Reacher before [season 4] but I knew the Tom Cruise of it all with the [Jack Reacher] movies. But I was up for a role in Reacher previously and I didn’t get it,” Noel, 41, exclusively told Us.
Noel revealed she was previously “up for Neagley,” which ultimately went to Maria Sten. Neagley is not only a skilled former U.S. Army master sergeant and private investigator, but also Reacher’s right-hand girl who can be counted on in the most dire of situations.
Reacher, which airs Wednesdays, is based on the Jack Reacher novel series by Lee Child. It stars Alan Ritchson as the main character, who is a self-proclaimed drifter and former U.S. Army military police officer with incredible strength, intellect and abilities. During his travels, Reacher crosses paths with dangerous criminals and battles them.
“To be honest, it was probably between the both of us too,” Noel noted about the tough choice casting directors had to make. “I never watched it but I heard good things about it. And when season 4 came around, I received a call from Yana Grebenyuk Nick Santora asking me to read for this role. And I was like, ‘Do I really want to go through this again?’”
After reading the script, Noel changed her mind, adding, “I found out it was kind of made for me so it was cool.”
Season 4 pulls inspiration from the 2009 novel Gone Tomorrow, which follows Reacher as he witnesses a suicide on the subway in New York. According to the official synopsis, Reacher ” soon discovers the woman who killed herself was Pentagon staffer Susan Mark, who was caught up in a larger deadly conspiracy involving a corrupt politician, Al Qaeda terrorists and countless murders.”
“When I read for my role, I was like, ‘This is me,’” Noel told Us about playing Tamara Green, who is a detective with the Philadelphia Police Department. “And Nick goes, ‘Yeah, why do you think you were running so much? You forgot you told me you ran track?’ And I was like, ‘I actually prefer this role.’ I’m happy that I got Tamara.”
In addition to Noel and Ritchson, 43, season 4 stars Christopher Marquette, Agnez Mo, Anggun and Kevin Corrigan. Noel was thrilled by the chance to push herself on screen as her character joined Reacher out in the field.
“I have this motto, ‘Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.’ I live and die by that. I pretty much just adjusted a little bit because once I got all the scripts, I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be intense,’” she continued about the physical activity that went into her character. “I’m one of those people I work out every day. And what I did is I just pretty much adjusted my workout.”
Noel continued: “I pretty much had almost two months — or maybe a month and a half — to condition myself before I got to Toronto. So what I did is I just started lifting a little bit heavier and I adjusted my meal plan. I went back to CrossFit because I was lifting heavier and then I incorporated running into my workouts but that’s it. I just slightly changed it a little bit.”
Noel was also motivated by sharing the screen with Ritchson.
“It was a good challenge because like him, I need to get it perfect. And Alan doesn’t care how many takes a scene requires. If it doesn’t look right, we’ll do it again,” she explained. “I’m very much the same way. So when I would watch Alan and see how big he is and doing his own stunt and fighting and seeing how perfect it looks, I was just like, ‘I have to match him. I have to do the same.’”
Reacher airs Wednesdays on Prime Video.
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