'Reacher' actor Alan Ritchson says he got knocked unconscious and took real punches filming with 7-foot bodybuilder Olivier Richters

• Alan Ritchson said he took real punches and was knocked unconscious filming "Reacher" season three.
• He was filming the lengthy fight between Jack Reacher and Olivier Richter's new character, Paulie.
• "I don't think I would want to get in a fight with this guy in real life," Ritchson told Business Insider.

Alan Ritchson told Business Insider he took a punch from the 7-foot bodybuilder Olivier Richters while filming a fight scene for "Reacher" season three. He since revealed that he got knocked unconcious, too.

The third season sees Jack Reacher (Ritchson) infiltrating a criminal organization and crossing paths with Paulie (Richters), a henchman who's immediately suspicious of him.

Paulie's strength and size make him a formidable opponent for Reacher, who isn't used to being the weaker one in a fight.

Ahead of the show's premiere in February, Ritchson recalled how one fight scene became too real: "I took a punch accidentally one time, and I was like, 'I don't think I would want to get in a fight with this guy in real life.'"

Richters is 7 foot 2 inches tall, making him the tallest bodybuilder in the world, while Ritchson stands at 6 foot 3 inches.

Lee Child, the author of the "Jack Reacher" books, told BI in a separate interview that he was "stunned" by how Richters made Ritchson "look tiny."

Ritchson went on to praise his new costar's dedication.

"He's pretty tough. He's a monster, man, and he worked really hard to come in and be ready for the 'Reacher' world. He trained for like four months before we got to set together, and hopefully it shows," he said.

Ritchson said he got knocked unconscious filming the lengthy fight in the season three finale

"Reacher" season three spends a lot of time cranking up the tension between the hero and Paulie. They finally come to blows in a lengthy fight in the final episode. It lasts over 14 minutes as the pair slug it out in a garage, a lawn, the ocean, and finally, a cramped office.

During the garage scene, Paulie slams Reacher through a wooden table.

"I got picked up and we worked out the camera thing a few times and he slammed me through the table so hard, I went through it into the seventh circle of hell," he told Entertainment Weekly, in an interview published on Thursday.

"And I woke up a day and a half later. When I came to, I had to tell my kids that I felt great, because they were on set, and I didn't want them to think that like, 'dad died and was going to not be okay.' It was the worst few minutes of my life."

The actor said he got into a "huge fight" with the crew over safety concerns because he wanted do the stunt himself.

"I was like, 'I'm doing it. We're doing it.' And I won. Reluctantly, they're like, 'You better not die because we said you're going to die, and we tried to warn you,'" he recalled.

Season three is based on Child's seventh book in the series, "Persuader," which was released in 2003. Ritchson told BI that thinks fans will enjoy the adaptation.

"I think audiences are going to get to see something they've never seen before. In the book, if you're a reader of the books and 'Persuader,' you get the sense that Reacher's going to die fighting this guy and there's no way he can figure out a way to win," he said.

But like in previous seasons, there's a heavy focus on Reacher's fights and stunts, which the team took painstaking care over.

Ritchson added: "Filming those kind of fights, the amount of time we spent invested in that, three weeks for one fight in particular, hopefully, we give TV audiences the same kind of feeling.

"It was fun, and I definitely haven't experienced anything like that in the prior two seasons of 'Reacher.'"