Jack Reacher fans have an all-action thriller series featuring their favorite hero to get their teeth into. Move over Tom Cruise though, as Reacher on Amazon Prime Video will star Titans’ Alan Ritchson as the towering, roaming veteran military police investigator in a thrilling new action-packed mystery crime series based on the novels by Lee Child.
Like the famous movies starring Tom Cruise, 2012’s Jack Reacher and 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, the eight-part series is packed with bare-knuckle fight scenes, clever stunts, gun battles, and a hint of romance, and has author Lee Child on board as executive producer.
So here’s everything we know so far about the Jack Reacher spin-off coming to Amazon Prime Video, including its first-look pictures and trailer…
'Reacher' release date
All eight episodes of Reacher will be released worldwide Friday, Feb. 4 2022 on Amazon Prime Video.
It's one of a string of exciting things coming to Amazon Prime, including Amazon's Lords of the Rings TV series.
Is there a 'Reacher' trailer?
Yes, there's a great trailer for Reacher released by Amazon Prime Video. It shows Ritchson’s Reacher arriving in fictional town of Margrave, where he piques the interest of the local authorities, who are disturbed by the seven deaths that coincide with his arrival. It shows some thrilling fist fights, an obligatory topless shot, plus a scene of him popping off a beer bottle with just his muscles, and also hints at some romance for the character. Take a look at all the action right here with the trailer below plus a further clip (with a lot of fighting)...
'Reacher' plot
Reacher is based on Lee Child’s first Jack Reacher novel, Killing Floor, and follows the police investigator fresh out of the military, as he turns up in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, to find a community dealing with its first murder in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest Reacher and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. But while he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge.
"Within minutes of him arriving, he's arrested for murder," says Alan Ritchson, 39. "He basically has to solve the case to prove his innocence, and along the way he starts to uncover this sinister plot, and realises it’s close to home!’
'Reacher' cast — Alan Ritchson on playing Jack Reacher
Alan Ritchson is best known for playing Hank Hall (aka Hawk) in DC’s Titans and Aquaman in Smallville. And at six foot three inches tall, he’s much closer to the imposing six foot five character in Lee Child’s novels compared to Cruise, who’s five foot seven.
Reacher star Alan Ritchson told Whattowatch.com: "He is a retired military police officer who is huge, violent, highly intelligent, and an incredible detective. Now that he’s out of the military, he sort of wanders the country, and trouble seems to find him. He’s that knight in shining armour who cleans up the streets for us. He is the drifter who comes into town, and who doesn’t rely on the law because he is the law."
Alan says he found Reacher’s combination of brains and brawn, together with his tendency not to say much, fascinating to play. "You expect somebody who looks like that to be a bit of a brute. But Reacher’s so sharp that he's one step ahead of everybody. He's a man of few words, and he allows people to believe what they want to believe about him. So he’s a mental gymnast, but the size of an ox!"
'Reacher' cast — who else is starring
The Reacher cast also includes What We Do in the Shadows’ Harvey Guillén and iZombie’s Malcolm Goodwin, while The Goldfinch’s Willa Fitzgerald as cop Roscoe Conklin and Bruce McGill (My Cousin Vinny) plays Mayor Teale.
You'll also see Jack Reacher as a child, so there must be flashback scenes somewhere along the line in the drama. Young Reacher is played by Maxwell Jenkins, who famously plays Will Robinson in Lost In Space on Netflix.
Fans of British soaps should look out for Matthew Marsden, who was Chris Collins in Coronation Street. He plays Stan Reacher in this drama.
A brief guide to the previous Jack Reacher films
Lee Child has written 26 Jack Reacher books and two have been adapted for the big screen, both starring Tom Cruise as the ex army investigator turned drifter. The 2012 movie Jack Reacher saw Reacher help solve the case of five people shot dead in a seemingly random attack and also starred Rosamund Pike as the sniper’s defence attorney. Meanwhile, 2016 follow-up Jack Reacher: Never Go Back followed Reacher as he went on the run with an Army major who had been framed for espionage, as the two revealed a dark conspiracy.
All about Jack Reacher novelist Lee Child
The hugely popular Jack Reacher novels read like a love letter to America, packed as they are with diners and motels that their protagonist visits as he drifts from one small town to another across the US, righting wrongs along the way. However, their creator, Lee Child, was born in Coventry, schooled in Birmingham, studied law in Sheffield and worked in television production in Manchester. It was only after the publication of his first novel Killing Floor, on which the new series Reacher is based, that Lee Child – born James Grant – emigrated to the US.
"America is an exciting place to live and an ideal setting for my series of thrillers," says the 67-year-old. "My stories have been set all over the US – from Montana to Mississippi."
Despite the success of the books, Lee Child announced in 2020 that he would be letting his brother, Andrew Grant, take over authorship of the Reacher series.
"Andrew really is me 15 years ago, still full of energy, still full of ideas," says Lee, who has already co-written three Reacher books with his sibling."And so I think this is the perfect solution."
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