Reacher | |
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Genre | |
Based on | Jack Reacher novel series by Lee Child |
Developed by | Nick Santora |
Showrunner | Nick Santora |
Starring | |
Composer | Tony Morales |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 16 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Cinematography | Bernard Couture Michael McMurray Ronald Plante |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 42–56 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | Amazon Prime Video |
Release | February 4, 2022 present | –
Reacher is an American action crime television series developed by Nick Santora for Amazon Prime Video. Based on the Jack Reacher book series by Lee Child, it stars Alan Ritchson as the title character, a self-proclaimed hobo and former U.S. Army military policeman with formidable strength, intellect, and abilities. During his travels, Reacher crosses paths with dangerous criminals and battles them.
The first season of Reacher was based on Killing Floor, Child's 1997 debut novel, and was released on February 4, 2022. The second season, based on Bad Luck and Trouble (2007), began on December 15, 2023, and concluded on January 19, 2024. In December 2023, Ritchson revealed that filming of a third season had begun, based on the 2003 novel Persuader.[1] In October 2024, ahead of the third season premiere, the series was renewed for a fourth season.[2]
Jack Reacher is a former U.S. Army military police major with extensive AWOL investigative and combat experience who prefers to live as a drifter, traveling from town to town across the United States.
In season 1, while visiting the (fictional) rural town of Margrave, Georgia, Reacher is arrested for murder. After he is freed, he teams up with two honest police officers, Oscar Finlay and Roscoe Conklin, to investigate a local conspiracy involving corrupt lawmen, politicians, and a wealthy business tycoon and his son.
In season 2, Reacher is contacted by a former member of his defunct MP unit from New York City when one of their own is murdered under mysterious circumstances. He reassembles his old team to find the murderers and avenge their friend.
Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First released | Last released | |||
1 | 8 | February 4, 2022 | ||
2 | 8 | December 15, 2023 | January 19, 2024 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [7] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Welcome to Margrave" | Thomas Vincent | Nick Santora | February 4, 2022 | |
At midnight, a man later identified as Joe Reacher is shot dead just outside Margrave, Georgia. The following morning, Jack Reacher arrives on a Greyhound bus and walks into town, where he is arrested at a diner for the murder. He is sent to be held in the local jail with Paul Hubble, a banker who falsely confessed to the murder. Spivey, a crooked guard, puts them in with the general population, where Reacher brutally foils an attempt on their lives. Hubble explains he confessed to cover for a criminal organization that would have otherwise killed him and his family. After being released, Reacher is verbally threatened in town by the son of local businessman Kliner. When he later returns to the police station, he is informed about a second killing. At the morgue, a discussion about both the recent murder and another one earlier in the week leads him to identify the first victim as his older brother, Joe. | ||||||
2 | 2 | "First Dance" | Sam Hill | Scott Sullivan | February 4, 2022 | |
Reacher teams up with Oscar Finlay, the local police captain, and a cop named Roscoe Conklin to investigate his brother's murder and the recent disappearance of Hubble following his release from custody. Finlay's boss, Ed Morrison, and his wife are gruesomely murdered at their home. Reacher deduces that he was killed for not taking care of Hubble. The mayor, Grover Teale, himself dirty, takes over as police chief and orders Finlay to conduct a sham investigation into Morrison's death. Finlay's friend, FBI agent Picard, agrees to take Hubble's wife and children into unofficial protective custody. Reacher sets a meeting with Spivey but gets ambushed by two South American ex-soldiers, allowing Spivey to escape. Roscoe then takes him to a bar, where they dance. While driving home, they learn that the road is washed out and are forced to spend the night sleeping in the same motel room, where Reacher opens up about his past. | ||||||
3 | 3 | "Spoonful" | Stephen Surjik | Aadrita Mukerji | February 4, 2022 | |
Roscoe returns home to find evidence of a break-in. At Reacher's urging, she gives him a gun. The group contacts Joe's colleague, Molly Beth Gordon, at the Secret Service, learning that Joe was in Margrave on a confidential assignment to investigate reports of large-scale counterfeiting. Reacher intimidates one of Kliner's lawyers for information on Jobling, a Kliner truck driver the company went to great pains to release from police custody. Meanwhile, Finlay checks Spivey's house for clues, and gets beaten by police after they mistake him for a burglar. The two men then visit Kliner in person. Kliner claims he knows nothing and makes threats to drop the investigation. Reacher convinces Roscoe and Finlay to move out of their homes temporarily. While buying supplies, Roscoe is approached by Kliner's son KJ, who warns her that Reacher is a murderer. Reacher himself is again ambushed by the ex-soldiers, but this time manages to kill them. He then finds Spivey's corpse in their car trunk. | ||||||
4 | 4 | "In a Tree" | Christine Moore | Cait Duffy | February 4, 2022 | |
After meeting with Finlay, Reacher takes Roscoe to help him dispose of the bodies. He also reveals the truth behind KJ's warning: while serving in Iraq, Reacher killed three civilian men who were sexually assaulting a group of young boys. After the evidence is dumped at an Atlanta airport, Reacher pays for a hotel room, where he and Roscoe have sex after she surprises him in the shower. The next day, they visit the home of a former Kliner employee and find empty air conditioner boxes that Reacher suspects were used to move the counterfeit cash. Picard gives them a lead on the motel Joe stayed at before he was killed; Reacher finds a hidden note before he and Roscoe are jumped by more mercenaries. Roscoe saves Reacher's life, and Reacher admits that he put himself in danger to protect her. Molly Beth arrives in Atlanta with Joe's files on the case, but someone kills her and steals the files seconds before Reacher finds her. | ||||||
5 | 5 | "No Apologies" | Norberto Barba | Scott Sullivan | February 4, 2022 | |
Feeling guilty for Molly Beth's murder, Reacher takes out his frustration by attacking KJ after he vandalizes Roscoe's truck. Kliner declines to press charges. Roscoe learns that Teale has fired her for "subpar" police work. Desperate for new leads, Reacher finds a key and trunk left by Roscoe's deceased former boss Gray, containing research that confirms Reacher's suspicions that Margrave is the heart of Kliner's counterfeiting operation, but with no useable evidence. Traveling to Memphis, Reacher meets with his old comrade, private investigator Frances Neagley, to find a hitman who may have been Joe's murderer. After Roscoe punches Teale upon learning that he murdered Gray, Finlay gets her out of town by having her replace Picard as the Hubble family's bodyguard. Reacher and Neagley survive an attempt on their lives by a desperate Memphis cop whose family was threatened. Finlay breaks into Kliner's office only to find that Kliner has just been killed. | ||||||
6 | 6 | "Papier" | Omar Madha | Aadrita Mukerji | February 4, 2022 | |
Finlay and Reacher follow one of Kliner's trucks. Finlay tells Reacher the real reason he came to Margrave was not due to divorce, but because his wife Sharon died after a long illness. After finding the truck empty, Reacher goes to New York City to meet with one of Joe's contacts, Professor Kate Castillo, having found that another contact had been murdered under the guise of being mugged. He determines that Kliner had been shipping counterfeit money to a client in Venezuela, using "super bills" made from the specialized paper used in printing dollars. Assassins find Roscoe and Hubble's family, but Roscoe dispatches both men in the woods. While waiting for Picard, Paul Hubble's wife Charlie shares the details of their involvement with Kliner, explaining that Paul was tricked into laundering money and was then forced to watch a man be crucified to ensure his loyalty. Reacher arranges for Castillo to get police protection and uses his necktie to strangle an assassin sent to kill her. | ||||||
7 | 7 | "Reacher Said Nothing" | Lin Oeding | Scott Sullivan | February 4, 2022 | |
Officer Stevenson and his pregnant wife are murdered by a hit squad seeking information about the Hubble family. Teale fires Finlay on a pretext the next morning. Reacher pretends to confide in the last Margrave officer, Baker (who Reacher believes is corrupt), sharing a fake plan to search Hubble's house. Finlay goes in person to inform Stevenson's parents of his death. The hit squad goes to Hubble's house, planning to kill Reacher, but he traps and kills them all, including Kliner's nephew Dawson. Based on the information he's gathered, he realizes Kliner was bleaching $1 bills to get the paper needed to print his money. Reacher checks in with Roscoe, who shares his discovery with Picard. Reacher helps Finlay evade mercenaries who track him to his motel due to his visit to the Stevensons'. Reacher and Finlay return to Jobling's house, which has been burned to the ground. They search Jobling's parents' house and find boxes of counterfeit bills. They arrange a meet with Picard, but when they arrive, Picard is waiting with KJ and Teale. | ||||||
8 | 8 | "Pie" | MJ Bassett | Nick Santora | February 4, 2022 | |
KJ confesses to all the murders, having killed Joe and the others to protect the operation and his father when he tried to stop him, feeling he'd gone too far. KJ shows Reacher a live stream of a captive Roscoe and sends him and Picard to find Hubble. Reacher tricks Picard into stopping to fix a tire and shoots him; Picard is able to escape. Reacher immediately finds Hubble, who reveals he was working with Joe and Jobling (who feared that he would be murdered for stealing counterfeit bills) to stop Kliner's operation. Finlay is tortured by Baker at the precinct; Reacher rams the station with a truck and kills him. Neagley arrives, and Reacher gathers weapons before torching Kliner's factory with gasoline. Finlay crushes Picard to death in a hydraulic press, while Roscoe subdues and handcuffs Teale before shooting him when he goes for her gun. As the warehouse goes up in flames, Reacher douses KJ with flammable chemicals and kicks him into the fire, burning him alive. A flashback reveals how Reacher's mother died in Paris after a long illness, giving him his French grandfather's Croix de Guerre. Roscoe gives Reacher her number and says to call whenever he wants. She tells him that she wants to rebuild Margrave; Reacher suggests she consider running for Mayor. Finlay decides to move back to Boston. After burying the medal where Joe died, Reacher quietly walks out of Margrave and sticks out his thumb for a ride, continuing his journeys. |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [7] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 | 1 | "ATM" | Sam Hill | Nick Santora | December 15, 2023 | |
Somewhere in the Catskill Mountains, a man is shown being thrown out of a helicopter to his death. The next day, Jack Reacher is collecting his pension check in Arkansas when he intervenes to subdue an armed carjacker. He then notices that his own ATM receipt has a military emergency assistance code embedded in the amounts. Reacher contacts his former teammate Frances Neagley, who confirms that she planted it there to get his attention. The man dropped from the helicopter was Calvin Franz, another former member of Reacher's hand-picked Special Investigations Unit during his time in the Army. The two begin investigating the murder with the help of a third member, David O'Donnell. Reacher obtains a data drive hidden by Franz, obtaining a list of numbers, a separate list of names starting with the initials A.M, suspected to be aliases. Neagley reveals that another member of the 110th Special Investigations Unit, Stan Lowery, died in a car accident two years before Franz was killed, leaving only 7 living members of the 110th. The trio swear to avenge their dead friend, Franz, by finding and punishing his killers themselves. The trio then tried to locate another member of the Special Investigations Unit, Tony Swan at his home but upon noticing that no one was answering the door, they broke in to find the house empty and Swan's dog dead from dehydration. Reacher, noticing the pattern that with Franz murdered and now Swan presumed dead, deduced that someone is targeting every living member of Reacher's unit with brutal efficiency. | ||||||
10 | 2 | "What Happens in Atlantic City" | Sam Hill | Scott Sullivan | December 15, 2023 | |
Reacher assaults a stranger tailing him, only to then identify him as NYPD Detective Guy Russo. Reacher, Neagley, and O'Donnell visit Atlantic City, where two more teammates (Sanchez and Orozco) work as security guards for the Neptune Casino. Along the way they meet Karla Dixon, another member of the team and potential love interest for Reacher. They find a helpful ally in David Wright, the casino's Chief of Security. He comps the team a suite to stay in and helps them search for Sanchez and Orozco. Unfortunately, his police contacts confirm that both men were abducted, murdered, and dumped in the same region of mountains as Franz. He is also able to confirm that none of the casinos are missing money, so the numbers on the list must mean something else. A later assassination attempt points them back towards New York, to a company called New Age Technologies. | ||||||
11 | 3 | "Picture Says a Thousand Words" | Omar Madha | Penny Cox | December 15, 2023 | |
Flashbacks show New Age head of security Shane Langston torturing Franz for information. Before being thrown from the helicopter, Franz warns Langston that the "big guy" is coming for him. In the present, Reacher acquires guns for the team, before he and O'Donnell are arrested by Russo. Russo reveals that his investigations have identified a suspect in the murders, Azari Mahmoud, the owner of the "A.M." aliases. Meanwhile, Neagley and Dixon visit the offices of New Age Technologies, where Director of Operations Marlo Burns identifies the man who had been sent to kill them as Trevor Seropian and gives them his address. While in Denver, A.M. realizes that his aliases have been blown and tells Langston that his planned arrival in New York will be delayed; meanwhile, Dixon deduces that the list of figures discovered on the Franz USB represents days and months. Reacher, Neagley, Dixon, and O'Donnell pay a visit to Seropian's house, correctly anticipating an ambush, and kill a large number of mercenaries working for New Age. With New Age's involvement now confirmed, the team members conduct a raid on the company's HQ, finding evidence that Special Investigators member Tony Swan had been an employee there. | ||||||
12 | 4 | "A Night at the Symphony" | Omar Madha | Cait Duffy | December 22, 2023 | |
As the team members investigate their discoveries from New Age, they disagree on Swan's motives after he was revealed to be working in the company's security department. The team members find out that New Age has a government defense contract called Little Wing, thanks to notes from a senator named Lavoy. Meanwhile, back in Denver, A.M. kills a plastic surgeon in an attempt to steal his identity before flying to New York. The team members track the senator's legislative aide to Boston, where Dixon helps Oscar Finlay arrest the aide to coerce information out of him. The aide reveals to Reacher and O'Donnell that Little Wing is a missile program, conducted in New Age facilities in Denver and New York, to create missiles that will always hit their targets. Reacher realizes that people from New Age are planning to sell 650 missiles to AM to enable terrorist attacks. Later that night, the team members are ambushed by a biker gang, but manage to subdue them. Reacher then phones Langston, who attempts to bribe him into going away, but Reacher refuses and proclaims that he wants to throw him out of a helicopter. | ||||||
13 | 5 | "Burial" | Carol Banker | Scott Sullivan | December 29, 2023 | |
Neagley and Dixon pay a visit to New Age's facility in Denver attempting to see the missiles, only to find that they have already been taken away in a truck. One of A.M.'s henchmen stages the breakdown of another truck on the first truck's route and kills its driver. He opens the truck's trailer, revealing three other henchmen and the missiles. Neagley and Dixon who have been chasing the first truck come upon the scene, just after the henchmen have switched the trailers. The henchmen try to kill Neagley and Dixon. The first henchman drives off with the missiles before Neagley and Dixon kill the other three. In the paperwork Neagley and Dixon received from the manager of New Age's Denver facility they learn that Swan had allowed the missiles to leave New Age. Meanwhile, Reacher and O'Donnell visit Washington D.C. and make a trip to the Department of Homeland Security for information on A.M. Senator Lavoy catches up with Reacher and offers his assistance towards stopping a possible terrorist attack. The team members then head back to New York for Franz's funeral, where Reacher runs into and confronts Russo, who reveals that Langston and the New Age security department, minus Swan, are former NYPD detectives who took early retirement after being investigated. During the funeral, two hitmen try to kill the team members. One of the hitmen is killed; Reacher and Russo chase and catch the other. He reveals that Swan paid him to kill the members of the team; when he goes to an abandoned building to collect his payment, the building explodes. | ||||||
14 | 6 | "New York's Finest" | Carol Banker | Cait Duffy & Michael J. Gutierrez | January 5, 2024 | |
Following the building explosion, Russo gives the team a lead regarding the location of Marlo Burns. After the team track her down, she confirms that Swan has been trying to stop New Age's terrorist operation. She also reveals that she has been on the run thanks to Langston, who warned her that she and her daughter would be killed if she associated herself with Swan. Russo learns that his boss was contacted by New Age and is involved with their plans, having been bribed into revealing information regarding Reacher and the team. When Russo and Marlo's daughter Jane attempt to go into hiding, they are tracked by New Age hitmen attempting to kill them while pursuing them in a high speed chase across the city, forcing Russo to call the team for backup. The team enlists Marlo as bait to lure Langston and other members of New Age into a trap, which results in Reacher killing all of them minus Langston, who escapes. Afterwards, Neagley, Dixon, and O'Donnell arrive to assist Russo. They rescue Jane, but Russo has sacrificed himself to kill the hitmen. | ||||||
15 | 7 | "The Man Goes Through" | Julian Holmes | Penny Cox & Lillian Wang | January 12, 2024 | |
Reacher and his team decide to send Marlo and Jane to a safe place Dixon used to stay in Buffalo. Reacher and Neagley confront Lt. Marsh in his home while Dixon and O'Donnell send Marlo and Jane off in a safe passage. Marsh is killed by Reacher after he reveals that Grant, a hitman hired by Langston to take down Russo, is alive in a hospital. Reacher and Neagley extract information regarding the buy from Grant after Reacher threatens to burst the balloon in Grant's bladder by filling it with air. However, Reacher, before leaving, ensures that Grant dies from an embolism as revenge for killing Russo. They find a hitman disguised as a doctor sent to kill Grant and the hitman is accidentally killed in the fight between him, Neagley and Reacher. Langston reveals to Reacher in a phone call that he has got Dixon and O'Donnell. Reacher lies to Langston that Neagley got killed in the fight with the hitman. Meanwhile, Dixon and O'Donnell are tortured by Langston's men. Reacher demands that Senator Lavoy's private security team be placed at his disposal. Leaving Neagley outside with a plan, Reacher walks into the New Age Facility alone and surrenders himself as he confronts Langston. | ||||||
16 | 8 | "Fly Boy" | Julian Holmes | Scott Sullivan | January 19, 2024 | |
While being held captive, Reacher learns that Swan never joined Langston and refused to be part of the conspiracy. As a result of his defiance, Swan was murdered, and his harvested body parts were used for DNA evidence to frame him as the designated fall guy. Neagley and Lavoy's security team successfully break Reacher out of the New Age Facility, allowing him to board Langston's helicopter. Reacher kills the remaining bodyguard and, as promised, tosses Langston out of the helicopter to his death, freeing O'Donnell and Dixon. The team then heads to the New Age engineer's house to ambush and kill A.M. Anticipating that Lavoy's security team was going to assassinate the investigators as the last remaining loose ends, Homeland Security agents arrest Lavoy and the security team after receiving a tip from Reacher prior to his rescue mission. The investigators kill the two remaining New Age employees for their part in the conspiracy by using a Little Wing missile on Langston's helicopter, with the crash covered up by Homeland Security. The team distributes the $65 million among themselves and the surviving family members of their fallen allies, then go their separate ways. |
The eight episodes of the season were written by:[8]
On July 15, 2019, a TV series adaptation of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series was announced by Amazon. Nick Santora, who created Scorpion, was set to write, showrun, and produce the series through Paramount Television and Skydance Media.[9] On January 14, 2020, the TV series was greenlit, with Don Granger, Scott Sullivan, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross, and Christopher McQuarrie as executive producers with Child. The first season was announced as an adaptation of Child's novel Killing Floor.[10] In July 2021, it was announced M. J. Bassett had joined the series as a director.[11] On February 7, 2022, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season.[12] To adapt the books to screen the writers decided they would need to make Reacher verbalize his thoughts more often, but that they would keep his dialogue short and direct and have him only speak longer to people he respects. They also decided to introduce Neagley to the series earlier than in the books.[13] On December 2, 2023, ahead of the second-season premiere, it was revealed that filming of a third season had begun.[1] On October 9, 2024, ahead of the third season premiere, Amazon renewed the series for a fourth season.[2]
On September 4, 2020, Alan Ritchson was cast in the title role.[14] On March 22, 2021, Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald, and Chris Webster were cast as series regulars.[15] On May 19, 2021, Bruce McGill, Maria Sten, and Hugh Thompson joined the main cast.[5] On June 11, 2021, Kristin Kreuk, Marc Bendavid, Willie C. Carpenter, Currie Graham, Harvey Guillén, and Maxwell Jenkins were announced to have joined the cast in undisclosed capacities.[3]
On September 14, 2022, Shaun Sipos joined as a series regular for the second season.[16] On September 21, 2022, Serinda Swan, Ferdinand Kingsley, and Rory Cochrane joined the main cast while Domenick Lombardozzi, Luke Bilyk, Dean McKenzie, Edsson Morales, Andres Collantes, Shannon Kook, Ty Olsson, Josh Blacker, and Al Sapienza are set to guest star for the second season.[17] Goodwin, Swan and Lombardozzi already starred in Santora's Breakout Kings in 2011. On May 5, 2023, Robert Patrick was cast to replace Cochrane who left due to a scheduling conflict with the second season.[18]
On February 8, 2024, Anthony Michael Hall and Sonya Cassidy were cast as series regulars for season 3.[19] On March 6, 2024, Brian Tee, Johnny Berchtold and Roberto Montesinos were cast as regulars of the third season, whereas Daniel David Stewart will play a more recurring role.[20] In May 2024, bodybuilder Olivier Richters, also known as "the Dutch Giant", was cast as Persuader's secondary antagonist Paulie.[21]
A temporary townscape was built in North Pickering, Ontario to support filming of season 1. The entire fictional city of Margrave was built from the ground up in a leased farm field in Ontario. Other areas of filming include Toronto, Port Perry and Pickering.[22] Principal shooting of season 1 took place between April 15 and July 30, 2021, in Toronto.[23] During filming, Ritchson broke a bone in his shoulder, which required surgery. He also tore an abdominal muscle during a fight scene.[24] Filming for the third season was underway by December 2023, announced as part of the season three renewal.[1]
The first season's episodes were released on February 4, 2022.[25]
For the second season, the first three episodes were released on December 15, 2023, with an additional episode released each week through January 19, 2024.[26]
Reacher was the most streamed television series for the week of February 7–13, 2022, according to the Nielsen streaming rankings, the first Amazon production to achieve the feat.[27]
For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.3/10, based on 75 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Reacher captures the trademark bulk of its titular hero while trading away some of his definition, but fans of the novels will find plenty to love about this faithful adaptation."[28] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[29]
Lucy Mangan of The Guardian said, "This rollicking adaptation of Lee Child's man-mountain ex-military sleuth is hugely fun, packed with punchups and far better than Cruise's movie efforts."[30] Michael Hogan of The Telegraph wrote, "Reacher is huge, pulpy fun and far classier than you might expect."[31] Joshua Alston of Variety praised the casting of Ritchson but said the character was unsuitable to carry this kind of show: "the longer it runs, the more obvious its protagonist-shaped void becomes".[32] Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter called it "frustratingly over-faithful to the source material", saying, "I wouldn't mind another season, but I'd probably still rather read another book."[33]
The second season has a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 43 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Brawny as Alan Ritchson's biceps, Reacher swaggers confidently into its sophomore season as rock 'em sock 'em pulp with a sly wink."[34] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 79 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[35] Conversely, Forbes panned the second season as "one of the worst shows on TV", adding that "there’s just not enough going on to make him (Reacher) a particularly compelling protagonist".[36]
On September 4, 2024, it was announced that a spin-off series focusing on Frances Neagley was in development at Amazon Prime Video with Maria Sten set to reprise her role.[37] On October 1, 2024, it was announced that Amazon had officially greenlit the series with Santora and Nicholas Wootton serving as showrunners for the series.[38]