Five years before Alan Ritchson became a star after the huge success of Reachhe secured his first leading action role in a wild grindhouse series in the style of Mad Max. Starting out as a model, Alan Ritchson initially gained some recognition as a contestant on american idol in 2004, and later played Aquaman in four episodes of the hit series Smallvillewith his first appearance in 2005. His role as Thad Castle in Blue Mountain State showed off the hilarious acting skills Ritchson possessed, but he was mostly relegated to action projects.
After a series of supporting characters throughout his career, both on TV and in film, Alan Ritchson became the main character in the series Max, Titansplaying the superhero Hawk. After that, his years of hard and hard work paid off as Reach for Amazon Prime became a mega-hit, catapulting Ritchson to stardom. Alan Ritchson's eyes are on Reach third season, but it's worth remembering his first leading action role in the unhinged series, Blood donation.
Blood Drive was Alan Ritchson's first leading action role
Reacher's plan of action was defined years before
It's easy to see Alan Ritchson as one of the biggest action stars of the moment, following the monumental success of Reachbut there was a time when he led his own series, portraying supporting characters for years. Blood donation gave Alan Ritchson his first opportunity to star in actionin the role of Arthur Bailey, a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. Launched in 2017, Blood donation was a grindhouse-influenced SyFy Channel series that depicted an alternate reality set in a dystopian "far future" of 1999.
The series only lasted one season, but it was one of the most absurd television shows of the time, heavily leveraging the history of the grindhouse genre to carve its own path on cable television. Alan Ritchson was predictably great, having routinely showcased his acting talent across multiple genres. for TV and cinema throughout his career. Despite being an integral part of his career, Blood Drive seems to have simply come and gone without really breaking into the mainstream during its short run.
Why Alan Ritchson Fans Should Watch Blood Drive
It's not too late to enjoy Ritchson's forgotten action series
Not only did Blood House mark an important moment in Alan Ritchson's acting career, it's also absurdly entertaining. It can be described as Mad Max with strong grindhouse sensibilities, taking the violence and absurdity even further than George Miller's iconic franchise ever did. For example, following a fuel shortage that devastated civilization, cars ended up being designed to run on something very different from gas, from human blood.
He's fantastic in this, acting as a more grounded character in the non-stop onslaught of madness going on around him.
Even the critics loved it Blood donationciting how it indulges in all the elements of the grindhouse genre while implementing self-aware humor to great effect. It really is a wonderful, strange, bloody and, frankly, silly series that Alan Ritchson fans should definitely tune in to see. He's fantastic in this, acting as a more grounded character in the non-stop onslaught of madness going on around him. It proved that he could be more than a supporting character, paving the way for his leading roles as Reach.
Why was the blood donation canceled
Ritchson's First Major Series Didn't Last
Despite only lasting one season, there were plans for a second, but unfortunately the series was canceled prematurely. In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter talked about canceling Blood donation with series creator James Roland revealing the news via a blog post. Essentially, The cancellation of the series came down to low ratings he pulled it for SyFy. This is common with networks, especially in the modern TV era as shows continue to get more and more expensive. Still, it does not cancel Blood donation hurt less.
It's easy to point to SyFy as the villain in the situation, given that Blood donation It quickly built a relatively small but passionate fanbase over the course of the first season, but it's amazing that it was done in the first place. For the most part, gleefully violent and bloody, grindhouse television simply doesn't exist on cable, making the existence of Blood donationon SyFy of all places, even more impressive. It's a shame it didn't work out Blood donation and Alan Ritchson, as it was his first opportunity to show everyone that he was capable of being the main action hero in his own series.