Alan Ritchson, best known for playing Jack Reacher in Amazon Prime's TV adaptation, has revealed that missing out on a Smallville spin-off in 2006 turned out to be one of the best things to happen to his career. Ritchson had played a young Aquaman in four episodes of Smallville, prompting producers to develop a dedicated Aquaman pilot for The CW, but a merger between Warner Bros and UPN saw new executives scrap plans to build a show around an unknown actor, with Justin Hartley cast in his place.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ritchson described the setback as "the best loss that I could have ever asked for" and "a blessing in disguise," reflecting on it with the benefit of hindsight. The Aquaman pilot ultimately never aired on television, only surfacing later as an iTunes release, while Ritchson went on to build a varied career, including roles in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, before landing the role of Reacher.