Reacher

## Production

### Executive producer(s)

Lee ChildNick SantoraScott SullivanDon GrangerChristopher McQuarrieDavid EllisonDana GoldbergMarcy Ross

### Production company(s)

Amazon StudiosBlackjack FilmsParamount Television StudiosSkydance Television

## Broadcast

### Original run

February 4, 2022 – Present

***Reacher*** is an American action crime streaming 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 military policeman with formidable abilities. Reacher always encounters and is forced to battle dangerous criminals throughout his travels.

The first season, based on *Killing Floor*, Child's 1997 debut novel, was released on February 4, 2022. A second season has been ordered, and will be based on *Bad Luck and Trouble*.

## Premise

Jack Reacher is a former U.S. Army military policeman. While visiting the (fictional) rural town of Margrave, Georgia, he is arrested for murder. After he is freed, he teams up with Oscar Finlay and Roscoe Conklin to investigate a wide conspiracy with corrupt police officers, politicians, and businessmen.

## Cast and characters

### Main

* Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher
* Willa Fitzgerald as Roscoe Conklin, Margrave PD
* Malcolm Goodwin as Oscar Finlay, Margrave PD Police Captain and Chief Detective
* Chris Webster as Kliner Jr., Kliner Sr.'s son
* Bruce McGill as Mayor Grover Teale and subsequently Police Chief
* Maria Sten as Frances Neagley

### Recurring

* Willie C. Carpenter as Mosley, an elderly barber and longtime resident of Margrave
* Harvey Guillén as Jasper, Margrave's medical examiner
* Gavin White and Christopher Russell as Joe Reacher, a Secret Service agent and Reacher's older brother. White plays the young Joe and Russell portrays the character as an adult.
* Leslie Fray as Josephine Reacher, Reacher's mother
* Matthew Marsden as Stan Reacher, Reacher's father
* Hugh Thompson as Baker, a corrupt Margrave officer
* Jonathan Koensgen as Stevenson, a Margrave officer and Paul Hubble's cousin
* AJ Simmons as Dawson, Kliner's nephew and enforcer
* Marc Bendavid as Paul Hubble, a banker strong-armed into assisting a counterfeiting ring
* Patrick Garrow as Spivey, a corrupt corrections officer
* Kristin Kreuk as Charlene "Charlie" Hubble, Paul's wife
* Currie Graham as Kliner Sr., the owner of Kliner Industries
* Martin Roach as Picard, an FBI agent and old friend of Finlay's

### Guest

* Lara Jean Chorostecki as Molly Beth Gordon, a Secret Service agent who was involved with Joe Reacher

## Production

### Development

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. 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*. In July 2021, it was announced M. J. Bassett had joined the series as a director. Adapting the books to screen the writers decided they would need to make Reacher verbalize his thoughts more often, but that they would keep his dialog short and direct and have him only speak longer to people he respects. They also decided to introduce Neagley to the series far earlier than in the books.

### Casting

On September 4, 2020, Alan Ritchson was cast in the titular role. On March 22, 2021, Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald, and Chris Webster were cast as series regulars. On May 19, 2021, Bruce McGill, Maria Sten, and Hugh Thompson joined the main cast. 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. On September 14, 2022, Shaun Sipos joined as a series regular for the second season. 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-Chun, Ty Olsson, Josh Blacker, and Al Sapienza are set to guest star for the second season. On May 5, 2023, Robert Patrick was cast to replace Cochrane who left due to a scheduling conflict with the second season.

### Filming

A temporary townscape was built in North Pickering, Ontario to support filming of the show. 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. Principal shooting of season 1 took place between April 15 and July 30, 2021, in Toronto. During filming, Ritchson broke a bone in his shoulder which required surgery and tore an abdominal muscle during a fight scene.

### Release

The series was released on February 4, 2022. On February 7, 2022, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season.

## Reception

### Audience viewership

*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.

### Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.30/10, based on 73 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." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

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." Michael Hogan of *The Telegraph* wrote, "Reacher is huge, pulpy fun and far classier than you might expect." Joshua Alston of *Variety* wrote a nuanced critique that, although positive about the casting of Ritchson, criticizes the fundamentals of the character as being unsuitable to carry this kind of show. He opined that "the longer it runs, the more obvious its protagonist-shaped void becomes". 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."