Legacy’ Fans Missing Anthony Michael Hall Need to Watch ‘Reacher’

As the sequel to Prime Video’s Bosch, Bosch: Legacy stars Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch. Mimi Rogers and Madison Lintz reprise their roles from the original series as Honey “Money” Chander and Madeline “Maddie” Bosch, respectively. The first two seasons of Bosch: Legacy focus on Bosch’s work with Money as his daughter made her mark as an up-and-coming patrol officer in the LAPD. Among the additional cast members during season two, however, was a familiar face — and one fans will see again soon in Season 3 of Reacher — veteran actor Anthony Michael Hall.

Hall plays Zachary Beck in Reacher’s third season. He’s the father of Richard Beck, a college student who is almost kidnapped until Reacher intervenes. The titular drifter is then enlisted to work for the elder Beck and soon discovers his boss’s business dealings aren’t what they appear to be.

In short, Beck is the bad guy, not a new role for Hall. There were elements of villain woven into his character in Bosch: Legacy. Hall’s career is full of multifarious characters, making his time on Reacher even more fun to watch.

Anthony Michael Hall Played Special Agent Will Barron in ‘Bosch: Legacy’

When Anthony Michael Hall joined season two of Bosch: Legacy in 2023, he played Special Agent Will Barron. Barron was an agent leading the task force investigating Bosch. Hall’s character was described as, “A political animal, both capable and savvy; he has worked the circuits of power in the bureaucracy for years. Hobbling the Russian Bratva while spearheading a task force could be a career-maker for him, so he takes a by-any-means-necessary approach to his case.”

Special Agent Barron was in five episodes across Season 2, barking orders and constantly telling his agents to “dig deeper.” Barron is also relentless in implicating Bosch and Money in Carl Roger’s murder, attempting to manipulate their friends and family just to get to them.

Season 2 of Bosch: Legacy ended in a cliffhanger for Special Agent Barron. As a result, Hall’s continued presence on the show was not clear but he told Moviefone.com in June 2024:

“Well, apparently, I don’t think I’m going to be returning on ‘Bosch: Legacy’. It was interesting. It ended the season in a cliffhanger, so I thought there might be an opportunity, but it didn’t play out like that. But again, it was a pleasure to work with those guys.”

Anthony Michael Hall Offered a Bit of Insight Into His Role in ‘Reacher’

With several reminders that he couldn’t go into detail, Anthony Michael Hall talked about his role in season three of Reacher in June 2024. Hall said, “It’s a really dynamic and interesting character. And I play him for the whole season. And there’s a very interesting sort of father-son dynamic which unfurls in the season, too, which is interesting.”

There may be hints as to some of Hall’s goings-on in Reacher. Season 3 is based on Lee Child’s book Persuader, a novel that explores Hall’s character, Zachary Beck, his relationship with his son, and his smuggling operation. In Persuader, Reacher pushes to get information about Beck for the DEA and, even after it gets too dangerous to continue, refuses to back off.

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Hall also talked about how fatherhood has shaped some of the paternal roles he’s played on screen. He described having a one-year-old son as,

“Food for the role. The character in the show, [Beck’s son] is played by another young actor named Johnny Berchtold who actually just turned 30 years old. But he looks about 20 years old, about 10 years younger. So, despite that age gap and difference, it did help me a lot because I now know the love of a father. It was very, very helpful.”

‘Reacher’ Isn’t the Only Place To See Anthony Michael Hall Play the Bad Guy

Fans of Anthony Michael Hall may think of him as Farmer Ted from Sixteen Candles or Randy from National Lampoon’s Vacation, but he’s played a diverse group of characters during his long career. Hall was the obnoxious bully Jim in Edward Scissorhands, psychic teacher Johnny Smith in The Dead Zone, and reporter Mike Engel in The Dark Knight, but has recently been embracing his inner villain. Alongside Hall’s role as Zachery Beck in Reacher, he appeared as another bad guy, Senator Ezekiel Swann, in 2024’s Trigger Warning.

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Swann has some stark similarities to Beck, as both men are driven by power and the need to control more than anything else. Hall described Swann as “a dark guy.” Again a father, Swann had two sons and, collectively, their family represents “all that is dark.”

When asked about his dual roles as a dastardly father in June 2024, Hall admitted,

“It’s fun to give color to those characters. When you inject some humor into the villain. I enjoy it. It wasn’t intentional, but it’s looking like a little bit of a trend, which is fine with me. To keep working is the key.”