Keanu Reeves was originally intended to play the villain Aimes in Fast X.

Alan Ritchson revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly on Monday that he was drafted in to play Aimes, the new head of The Agency, after the John Wick star pulled out due to scheduling issues.

“It was just a little stroke of luck and good timing,” he said of his casting. “I was working on a movie with Hilary Swank up in Winnipeg in the freezing cold, and I got a call that things had shifted in the plans with Keanu Reeves, which is I think who was originally intended to play my part. Tough act to follow.”

Reeves has previously come close to appearing in a Fast and Furious movie before. In 2019, David Leitch, the director of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, confirmed that Reeves had been in talks for a small role but it didn’t work out.

Elsewhere, the Smallville star revealed that he almost had to drop out of Fast X himself after production on Ordinary Angels shut down due to a blizzard.

“It was disheartening. I thought it was over before it began, but luckily we worked it out and they were able to push the dates a little more,” he shared.

However, Ritchson briefly thought he’d lost the role again after original Fast X director Justin Lin was replaced with Louis Leterrier a week after production started.

Recalling a conversation with producer Jeff Kirschenbaum, Ritchson added, “I was like, ‘Okay… am I still in the movie?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, of course. We’re excited to work with you, but we’ve decided to go our separate ways with Justin.’ I was like, ‘Okay, you can just say that next time!’ So I’m very grateful that it worked out.”

Fast X is in cinemas now.

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