We’ve got good news for fans of slightly ludicrous but enormously entertaining TV shows: Jack Reacher is coming back for a third season! Based on the hugely popular Lee Child books, the show follows the vagabond life of the one-man army Jack Reacher as he moves from town to town righting wrongs and punching lots of bad guys in the face. Season two of Reacher is streaming later this month, and you can get a sneak peek of what’s in store as well as see the season three announcement in the video below.
The TV show, which we rate among the best Prime Video series, is already better than the Jack Reacher films for one key reason: it doesn’t give the role of man-mountain Reacher to Tom Cruise, who is definitely a man but definitely not a mountain. He lacks the sheer physicality that makes the character such a force to be reckoned with. Alan Ritchson is perfect in the title role, and he’s also the clearly delighted host of the season three announcement video and season two sneak peek.
What is season two of the Reacher about?
Here’s the blurb for season two: “Reacher is pulled from his vagabond life by a coded message informing him that a member of the 110th – his elite group of Army Special Investigators – has been murdered. He and some of his former military cohorts reunite to investigate and soon realize the case is bigger than they ever could have imagined.”
This is exciting stuff, because the show sticks much more closely to the original books than the movies did – and interestingly, season two appears to have skipped nine books in the series, with this season based on Bad Luck and Trouble. That’s the eleventh book in the series, and it’s one of the best. Child’s book is lean, fast-moving and extremely cinematic throughout, and features a suitably knotty mystery that’s going to be a lot of fun for Reacher to unravel.
The first season of Reacher is sitting with 92% from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, so you can probably see why this is one of the most anticipated returns of the year and judging by the announcement video above, it doesn’t look like it’ll disappoint. If you like your TV rough, tough and just on the right side of outright lunacy, it’s definitely one for your to-watch list. And if you want to watch something equally muscular while you wait, here are six more thrillers we think you’ll love.
Season two of Reacher is streaming on Prime Video from December 15, 2023.