Alan Ritchson finds it "funny" that some people including "supposed Christians" have criticised him for his role in the hit Amazon show, Reacher.
Ritchson, himself a committed Christian, addressed the criticism in a video on the InstaChurch YouTube channel.
He said that he loved playing the titular character of Jack Reacher, a retired military officer who drifts across the US challenging injustice.
The first season aired on Amazon Prime in 2022 to critical acclaim, and the second season that launched last month has been just as big a hit with audiences.
But the show does contain a lot of violence and has the TV equivalent of an R rating - or 15 in the UK.
In the YouTube video, Ritchson defended taking on a role that could be viewed as "morally ambiguous".
"I love playing Reacher. I love telling this story. I love playing a character who creates a kind of moral ambiguity that we should struggle against as we consider whether or not what he's doing is good all the time or morally right," Ritchson said.
"But it's funny to me how a lot of people criticize me, supposed Christians especially, criticize me for playing Reacher. As if the only TV that should exist is seeing people silently folding their hands in the pew of a church. I mean, what kind of stories are we supposed to tell?"
The 41 year old, who also recently starred in the Fast X movie, said that the Bible was full of "stories of paganism, of war and bloodshed and ghost stories, mysticism", and that God often revealed himself "through an imperfect people".
Ritchson suggested that shows like Reacher could even be used to start conversations "in a way that I think God enjoys."
"We see miracles and magic. We see life and resurrection and death, and we see this incredible canvas where God is completely unafraid to tell the story of who He is through less than morally ambiguous characters, through pure evil sometimes," he said.
