Anthony Michael Hall has joined the cast for the latest batch of episodes, based on author Lee Child’s book Persuader, the seventh in his literary series.
The star of films including Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, is now 56 and unrecognisable to fans, 40 years later.
He’s also in an unusual role compared to those as a baddie, having risen to fame as the sweet but nerdy teenage character he also played in the likes of Weird Science for filmmaker John Hughes, who helped cement his status in cinema.
He also became known as a member of the Brat Pack, a name given to the young stars who starred in Hughes’ coming-of-age 1980s films, including Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy and Emilio Estevez.
But in 2025, Hall is now playing a steely-eyed, formidable businessman with a dubious cover story, Zachary Beck, who is the operator of rug import company Bizarre Bazaar, which plays a central role in the illegal operation Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is investigating this season.
In season three he hires Reacher to help protect his son Richard (Johnny Berchtold) after kidnapping attempts.
‘Mind blown. The dodgy ‘businessman’ in S3 E1 of #Reacher on @primevideouk is Anthony Michael Hall from The Breakfast Club and Weird Science,’ posted journalist Pilib Ó Nualláin.
‘Anthony Michael Hall as an old man villain is crazy,’ agreed @GiftedBigMike, while Larry Farr admitted: ‘Watching the 3rd season Reacher (loving it) and cannot figure out one of the actors. Then I realised – it’s Anthony Michael Hall! Playing a 50-year-old man!’
‘I’m 61, but dang!’ he added, realising how much time has passed since the beginning of Hall’s career.
‘No matter how hard I try, I just can’t see 18-year-old Anthony Michael Hall the same person as 56-year-old Anthony Michael Hall,’ shared Hugh Parker.
Others were also very excited to see the star in this new role.
‘I did not know Anthony Michael Hall was going to be in the new season. He’s one of my all-time favourites,’ tweeted Scott Stevenson on X, while fan Alex said the choice to cast him alongside Olivier Richters as Paulie, ‘rock[ed]’.
‘It is almost perfect casting given his part roles! Great work!’ chimed in Brett Dasovic.
Despite Hall being often first associated with ‘good guy’ roles, he actually has played several villains over the years – including in Edwards Scissorhands opposite Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder.
‘Having played a lot of villains, I try to always humanise them, give them some humour, something interesting,’ the actor told Rolling Stone, acknowledging that there are ‘a lot of dynamics at play’ in his role as Beck.
‘I liked testing those parameters, playing with the colouring of it, so the audience doesn’t really know what to make of it,’ he added.
In recent years, his onscreen work has been a little more low-key and sporadic, appearing in TV shows including The Goldbergs, The Blacklist, Riverdale and CSI: Miami. He also had a small role in The Dark Knight as Mike Engel for Sir Christopher Nolan.
In 2023, he had a recurring role in other Prime Video show when he appeared as Agent William Baron in five episodes of season two of Bosch: Legacy.
Reacher season 3 is streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
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