Lee Child, the author of the 'Jack Reacher' novels, confirmed the news in an interview with BBC Manchester Radio earlier today. As well as replacing the Cruiser in the lead role, Child - real name Jim Grant - said that a deal had been signed for a television series.
"I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He's a really, really nice guy. We had a lot of fun," Child explained. "But ultimately the readers are right. The size of Reacher is really, really important and it's a big component of who he is."
Longtime fans of the 'Jack Reacher' novels were aghast at Cruise's casting, especially considering the character is supposed to be an imposing 6'5 and Cruise is only 5'7.
"The idea is that when Reacher walks into a room, you're all a little nervous just for that first minute. And Cruise, for all his talent, didn't have that physicality," said Child.
"So what I've decided to do is - there won't be any more movies with Tom Cruise. Instead we're going to take it to Netflix or something like that. Long form streaming television, with a completely new actor. And I want all those readers who were upset about Tom Cruise to help me out - participate in choosing the right actor for the TV series. We're rebooting and starting over and we're going to try and find the perfect guy."
For all the criticism surrounding the adaptations, both movies were reasonably successful and made a combined box office of well over $380 million, but suffered lukewarm reviews and likely led to all of this.
So, the question now is whether people actually want a 'Jack Reacher' TV series, and who's actually going to be tall enough to fit the bill?
