When “Blue Mountain State” aired its three seasons on Spike TV during 2010 and 2011, the comedy brought to life a blend of fresh talent and recognizable actors. The show, reminiscent of “Animal House” with a dash of “Friday Night Lights,” saw its cast reconvene for the 2016 crowdfunded movie “Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland.” These actors are expected to return for the upcoming fourth season on Amazon Prime.

With just 39 episodes and a single movie over the years, the show’s cast members have had the opportunity to explore other film and television endeavors. Some have taken on new roles more actively than others, with a few transitioning to working behind the scenes. Here’s a detailed look at the main cast’s journey since the original three seasons on Spike. Let’s begin with Alan Ritchson, who has seen the most career progression; the former American Idol contestant now headlines Prime Video’s popular show, “Reacher.”

Alan Ritchson portrayed the party-loving linebacker Thad Castle in “Blue Mountain State” and reprised his role in the movie to depict the character’s brief professional career. Since 2022, Ritchson has been a star on the Amazon Prime series “Reacher.” His relationship with the platform plays a significant role in Amazon’s decision to air Season 4 of “Blue Mountain State.”

Of course, the actor has found plenty of work outside the Amazon ecosystem, including appearances on “New Girl,” “Workaholics,” “Black Mirror,” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” He also starred in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” a movie that holds up a decade after it debuted. In that film, Ritchson plays Gloss, the male District 1 champion at the 63rd games who later mentors his sister, Cashmere (Stephanie Leigh Schlund), who won in the district the following year. Ritchson also played Raphael in 2014’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” alongside Will Arnett and Megan Fox; all three actors returned two years later for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.”

Ritchson dipped a toe into the DC Comics waters with uncredited appearances on the TV series “Supergirl” and “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” in 2019 and 2020 as Hank Hall/Hawk, who he portrayed on the series “Titans,” an adaptation of DC’s “Teen Titans” comic franchise. He has branched out into other aspects of film and television production as well, with multiple credits as a writer, producer, and director. In 2021, he directed “Dark Web: Cicada 3301,” which he co-wrote alongside Joshua Montcalm. He also appeared in the sci-fi mystery comedy as an NSA agent.

As playboy quarterback Alex Moran, Darin Brooks appeared on all 39 episodes of “Blue Mountain State” as well as the film. He has since become a fixture on the CBS soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful,” appearing on more than 1,100 episodes as Wyatt, the son of Bill Spencer and Quinn Fuller. In 2017, Wyatt read a clue on an episode of “Jeopardy” and made a guest appearance on “Two Broke Girls.” The following year, he starred as Tucker in the TV comedy movie “Groomzilla.” Brooks was nominated for a daytime Emmy as best supporting actor in a drama in 2021, the same year his character appeared in two crossover episodes of “The Young and the Restless.”

In addition to the returning “Blue Mountain State,” Brooks is set to star in the upcoming horror flick “Rockland Heights” and the hockey comedy “The Roaring Game,” the latter of which he is also producing. He will also serve in that function for the upcoming supernatural thriller “Heaven and Hell,” starring Kelly Lynn Reiter and Matthew Ashford. In 2024, he talked with Soap Opera Digest about his long run on “The Bold and the Beautiful.” “I was there for 10 years, you know, and it’s like my second family,” he recalled. “[Executive Producer/Head Writer] Brad Bell and the family and everybody just sort of created an incredible past 10 years for me.”

“Blue Mountain State” co-creator Chris Romano (who also played Sammy Cacciatore and produced the series) has undergone the biggest personal transformation of any cast member since the series first aired. Now going by the name Romanski, in 2010 he told LAist that he was christened with his new name in the writer’s room of another show. During his tenure as a writer and producer on “The Sarah Silverman Program,” he was part of discussion as to what a restaurant on the show should be called. “I was trying to force myself into the show,” he admitted. “I was like, ‘why don’t we call it Romanski’s … It’s me. It’s my nickname'” “They were like ‘did you just give yourself an nickname?’ ‘I think I did.'”

Romanski has been busier than Chris Romano ever was, with more than 60 combined credits as an actor, writer, and director. He served in all three of those capacities on “How I Met Your Mother” in the years between the first three seasons of “Blue Mountain State” and the “Rise of Thadland” film and wrote and executive produced the 2015 TV movie “Boys in Blue.”

Romanski teamed up with Silverman again in 2017 to write 10 episodes of her show “I Love You, America” and made one on-screen appearance that year as well. He wore multiple hats on the set of the Damon Wayans/Damon Wayans Jr. comedy “Poppa’s House,” which was canceled by CBS after just 18 episodes; Romanski is listed as a co-executive producer for three episodes of the show and a writer for two, with no overlap of duties. You may have also caught him on-screen as a wine taster in the 2023 Eric D. Cohen/Matthew Hirschorn comedy “Wine Club” or in the 2021 Yesser Lahim thriller “Landfill.”

Ed Marinaro might have been the biggest name on the “Blue Mountain State” call sheet when the first three seasons aired. A familiar face from his 1980s roles on “Hill Street Blues” and “Dynasty,” among others, Marinaro brought real gridiron experience to his role as BMS head coach Marty Daniels, having started at Cornell University (finishing second in the 1971 Heisman Trophy voting) and moving on to the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings. He only played 58 games in the pros, and his 67 acting credits are about evenly split before and after the first three seasons of “Blue Mountain State.”

He played another football coach in the 2019 Hallmark Christmas movie “SnowComing,” which also featured former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann. That same year, he appeared on the big screen in the Valerie Landsburg comedy/drama “Love and Debt.” Marinaro was busy in 2021 as well, appearing in the Tony Soprano origin story film “The Many Saints of Newark” and the family-friendly “A Unicorn for Christmas.” He’s on the cast list for the upcoming “Bad News on the Doorstep,” another football-themed project that will star Chazz Palimintieri, Vincent Pastore, Mischa Barton, and Robert Picardo.

Although Marinaro might not be tremendously busy with scripted roles, he is popular on talk, variety, and awards shows. Since his mid-career boost from “Blue Mountain State,” he has appeared as himself in three episodes of the Turner Classic Movies Spotlight series “Gridiron Glory — College Football in the Movies.” He’s also slated to appear in the upcoming George Francisco film “The League,” about the formation of the Ivy League in the nascent days of college football. Former Harvard player Tommy Lee Jones is in the cast as well, along with Princeton football alum Dean Cain and ex-Columbia Lion Brian Dennehy. 

Denise Richards, who played Coach Daniels’ ex-wife, Debra, was actually born the same year Ed Marinaro won the Maxwell Award as college football’s outstanding player. Richards has probably the busiest filmography of any “Blue Mountain State” cast member since the film’s release, landing a steady stream of film and TV roles that includes nearly 200 appearances on “The Bold and the Beautiful” as Shauna Fulton (formerly Shauna Forrester); her last appearance in that role came in 2022.

Richards starred in the holiday films “My Christmas Fiancé” and “A Christmas Frequency” and appeared in eight of the 20 Season 1 episodes of the cryptocurrency drama “Paper Empire,” which also stars Robert Davi, Anne Archer, and Steve Guttenberg. She also produces and stars in a reality show centered on her life and family called “Denise Richards and Her Wild Things,” which borrows part of its name from her 1998 breakout film performance.

In 2010, she talked with the East Valley Tribune about her busy schedule. I can’t sit still,” Richards said. “I always have to have something going on … It’s fun to play a character who is so exaggerated, the epitome of a trophy wife. I believe there’s a part of (me) in every role.” Richards, who had a tumultuous marriage and two daughters with Charlie Sheen, saw her role as Debra as a chance to flip the script on how ex-wives were shown in comedies. “Half the time, we are portrayed horribly,” she observed. “But that’s the best part of this (role). You can have fun with that. It is what it is.”

It didn’t take long for Omari Newton to parlay his “Blue Mountain State” role as Larry Summers into a steady stream of major parts. Between the first three seasons on Spike and the release of “The Rise of Thadland,” Newton starred as Lucas Ingram on “Continuum,” appearing in all 40 episodes of that series. Other credits include a guest appearance on “The X-Files” reboot and providing the voice of Black Panther for several episodes of “Marvel Super Hero Adventures” as well as in a number of other Marvel animated projects. Newton voiced Mr. Pierson in three episodes of “Jonny Jetboy,” tackled several character voices across 37 episodes of “Max Steel,” and played various roles in 26 episodes of the Netflix fantasy series “The Dragon Prince.”

The Montreal native is also an accomplished theater performer, slam poet, and hip-hop artist who serves as an instructor at the Vancouver Film School. In a Q&A for Canada’s National Arts Center, Newton stressed the importance of arts education for young people. “Art has a way of igniting and inspiring in ways that few things can,” he said.” It invites and empowers young people to play, to create and to stretch their imagination.”

Frankie Shaw’s first major acting role was as Blue Mountain State cheerleader Mary Jo Cacciatore, Sammy’s sister and Alex’s part-time love interest. In between the series and the film, she made guest appearances on “CSI: New York,” “2 Broke Girls,” and “Hello Ladies,” as well as writing, directing, and starring alongside Thomas Middleditch in the 2015 short film “SMILF.” She continued playing the part of single mom Bridgette Bird when Showtime ran 18 episodes of “SMILF” as a series from 2017 through 2019, working around a small role in the “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” and appearing in an episode of “Robot Chicken” as the voice of two different characters. Shaw auditioned for the role of Jane Margolis in “Breaking Bad” but lost out to Krysten Ritter, but she did land appearances in Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move” in 2021 with Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, and David Harbour, and the 2024 crime thriller “Absolution,” starring Liam Neeson.

In 2017, she told Entertainment Weekly that her frantic scramble to find childcare for her “Breaking Bad” audition inspired her to create “SMILF.” She said she was “sick of being a broke, struggling actress with a 2-year-old son” and hoped the short film script would land her a TV writing job. Rosie O’Donnell played her mom in the series, a character loosely based on Shaw’s supportive real-life mother. “When I had my son out here in L.A.,” Shaw said, “she was supposed to come out for two weeks for the birth, and she stayed for two years.” Of the series, she noted, “Ultimately, on some level, it’s a love letter to my son, and so the heart of the story is that relationship, and I think that’s a universal one.” She’s currently set to star in the upcoming films “Sugar” and “Palette.” 

Sam Jones III had a solid TV resume under his belt long before appearing in 13 of the 39 episodes of “Blue Mountain State” as well as the movie. In addition to a recurring role on “E.R.,” Jones’ biggest break was portraying Pete Ross, Clark Kent’s boyhood bestie, on the Superman origin story series “Smallville.” Jones’ last appearance on the DC superhero show came in 2008 in Season 7, two years after he starred in “Glory Road.”

Since reprising his role as star running back Craig Shilo in “The Rise of Thadland,” Jones has appeared in the 2018 Chris Blake horror film “All Light Will End” and as a guest on the “Smallville”-themed podcast, TalkVille. That show is hosted by Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum, who played Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, respectively, on the series. Jones also stars in the upcoming basketball-themed drama “Ballin 2024” as Devante, keeping the sports theme going in his acting career.

In a 2010 interview with UK’s Flavour Magazine, Jones spoke about the fun he and his castmates had making “Blue Mountain State.” “There are hot girls, partying and football,” he said. “Everything a young guy could dream of! I love the show because I’ve done a lot of drama and doing this type of comedy you can be wild and loose. For a young male actor you couldn’t ask for a better role!”

As Craig’s high school girlfriend, Denise Roy, Gabrielle Dennis brought years of experience as an actor, dancer, and singer to her role on “Blue Mountain State.” She appeared in 13 Season 1 episodes but not the film, and has been one of the series’ busiest alums in the years since leaving the show.

Roy starred as Pippy Rosewood on the forensics procedural “Rosewood,” which aired two seasons between 2015 and 2017, appearing in all 44 episodes. The actor followed that up with an appearance in the road trip comedy “Girls Trip,” which starred Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, and Tiffany Haddish. Between 2017 and 2019, you might have seen her on an episode of Maria Bamford’s comedy show “Lady Dynamite,” as Whitney Houston on the BET miniseries “The Bobby Brown Story,” in a three-episode arc as Candice on “Insecure,” or her six-episode run as Brianna on “S.W.A.T.” 

Roy was also part of the ensemble cast of “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” appearing in 22 of the series’ 30 episodes between 2019 and 2023, a number second only to creator Robin Thede. In 2023, she talked with Vulture about the growth of that show, saying, “Our cast has changed so much from season one, so it’s a new opportunity for the writers to create different characters that fit these different performers. It’s been exciting to watch me and Robin — having been there from day one — grow our timing and ability to riff off each other, and almost read each other’s mind.” Dennis went from that show to a starring role as Cass on “The Big Door Prize” and a 13-episode run on “The Upshaws” alongside the following “Blue Mountain State” alum.

Page Kennedy played quarterback Radon Randell on 13 episodes of the series’ first two seasons and “The Rise of Thadland.” He stayed busy the year the film was released with a major role in the TV adaptation of the Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker “Rush Hour” films. Two years later, he appeared in three episodes of “Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.” and starred alongside Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, and Rainn Wilson in the shark thriller “The Meg.” He would later reunite with Statham for “Meg 2: The Trench.”

The actor’s 17 episodes as Duck on “The Upshaws” came between 2021 and 2023, which he discussed in an interview with Brittany Frederick. “The cast is amazing,” he said of the show. “You have Mike Epps at the helm, you have Wanda Sykes, and you have Kim Fields. Those are all iconic names, and personalities, and actors … I was like, I’m all in for this.”

As someone who’s been making music longer than he’s been acting, Kennedy composed the music for the 2018 animated short “Trapanese” and voiced a major character in the film alongside his son, Timothy-James. He played Pastor Simons in the hilarious and underrated 2024 comedy “A Hip Hop Story” and currently stars in the Furst Brothers’ horror film “A Breed Apart.” The Shakespearean-trained actor is also directing and starring in “Macbeth in Compton,” which re-contextualizes the bard’s timeless tragedy in 1990s Southern California.

Leah Renee’s five appearances on “Blue Mountain State” as cheerleader Kara were credited under her full name of Leah Renee Cudmore, but the Toronto native has worked using just her first and middle names since then. She appeared as Alice on six Season 1 episodes of “The Playboy Club” in 2011 and starred in the single season of the comedy “Satisfaction” in 2013. She didn’t return for “The Rise of Thadland,” but did appear in two holiday-themed films in 2016: “The Best Thanksgiving Ever” and the made-for-TV “Falling For Christmas.”

She also starred in the 2019 TV movie romance “Sailing Into Love” as perpetual bridesmaid Claire and made a guest appearance that same year on the talk show “Home and Family.” Using her first and middle names, she recorded a pop single called IBF (Imaginary Boyfriend) in 2009.