The season finale of Reacher saw the towering hero, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), do such amazing things as take out a small army of armed goons with his hands handcuffed behind his back, and catch a helicopter in mid-air … managing to pull himself inside and defeat his enemy. This is why Reacher co-star Robert Patrick favorably compared Ritchson to Arnold Schwarzenegger during a recent, exclusive conversation with CinemaBlend. But the final episode of the current season, available now with your Amazon Prime Video subscription, confirmed something that has nagged me a bit about Reacher, and it’s something I hope they move away from in Reacher Season 3.
There are 28 Jack Reacher novels currently on the shelves. Author Lee Child has given the team behind the Reacher series more than enough material from which to choose. And for Reacher Season 2, they opted to adapt Bad Luck and Trouble, a story that delves into Reacher’s military history and also gets the “band” back together. Summoned by Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), Reacher and his team – Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan) and David O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos) – investigate a conspiracy that has swept up members of his former unit, the elite 110th.
This meant that throughout the season, Reacher would rely on the assistance of his former military colleagues, often times needing their expertise to bail him out of difficult situations, or rescue him (as happened in the finale). Which is fine… not also not really Jack Reacher. For the bulk of the stories told by Lee Child, Reacher is a lone wolf, arriving in a random town and dispensing justice when he stumbles on a wrongdoing. There have been stories with personal connections to Reacher’s history, and that was essential for this story…
But for Reacher Season 3, I’d really like to see him embarking on a random, solo adventure where he happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, then pushes back against people who mistakenly dismiss his abilities. Shortly after Reacher Season 1 ended, I made a few suggestions for Lee Child books that would make for excellent seasons of the Amazon Prime Video series. We’ll see if any of them end up being the choice.
I tried getting this information out of Alan Ritchson when he and I spoke. But all he would confirm for me is that Reacher Season 3 will be based on a beloved book, and it’s one of his favorites. That’s not a lot of information to go on. And the Reacher Season 2 finale didn’t end on a tease, or a footage reveal, of the upcoming Season 3.
But the last shot, of Reacher riding on a bus onto adventures unknown, suggests that my wish for the next season will be fulfilled, and our massive hero will have to rely best on himself to foil some dastardly scheme. And eat at a diner.
