Reacher‘s stratospheric success has everything to do with not only the Dad TV phenomenon but also how the show straddles multiple quadrants. Add in the series’ embrace of brilliant simplicity and the fact that Reacher is in on the joke, and it’s no wonder that Prime Video/Amazon went into rapid renewal mode by already announcing a fourth season. Lee Child’s hulking vagabond protagonist has plenty of literary material to keep going indefinitely, too. Heck, it will probably take Alan Ritchson eventually deciding when he’s had enough of a mega-high-protein diet and endless gym sessions, but the Blue Mountain State actor doesn’t seem anywhere near that phase of his career.
So, expect much more Reacher in the future, but first, let’s discuss where this Lone Wolf will surface after not-hugging Neagley, hopping onto a bus, and punching into his next vigilante adventure.
Trailers
First, some visuals in motion. The recently released full-length trailer begins with Reacher’s intolerance for sexist remarks, spends a moment with snacking Neagley, and ends with Reacher gaining the upper hand with new foe Paulie.
A previous teaser trailer introduced an initial Paulie punch or two.
Plot
One of the joys of following Reacher is how the show doesn’t follow Child’s books in consecutive order, a decision that frankly adds to the effect of Reacher surfacing in seemingly random situations. For this season, he will surface in Maine to adapt Child’s Persuader novel, which will take place him on a DEA assignment. For that move, he will go “undercover” like that’s totally possible for a 6’5″ dude who regularly inhale pork rinds and potato chips but still look like a Mr. Olympia candidate before the dehydration phase.
Reacher’s secret assignment? To special-investigate the true dealings of Zachary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall), who seems shady as hell. Of course, Hall has been sworn to secrecy on his arc, but he did tell Game Rant that “it’s a really dynamic and interesting character” with a “sort of father-son dynamic which unfurls in the season, too.”
More than the set up of events, this season will be particularly freewheeling because Reacher will actually be looking upwards at an antagonist. That would be Paul “Paulie” Masserella, embodied by Oliver “The Dutch Giant” Ritchers, who is 7’2″ IRL as opposed to Ritchson’s 6’3″ stature. Dude is enormous:
Ritchson has gone on record describing this season as “peak TV” while declaring “I would never lead you astray” on the scope of that promise, and Paulie will be (and he obviously looks this way) Reacher’s “most formidable foe yet” and “makes Reacher look absolutely tiny.” It’s worth noting that the Persuader novel, which is written in first person, contains Reacher’s observations that Paulie “looked like a cartoon” and “must have been gobbling steroids like candy for years.” Check and check.
Ritchers does happen to be the world’s tallest pro bodybuilder, according to Guinness World Records, and for the hell of it, here’s what he told Men’s Health about how he can consume 1000 calories in only 3 minutes:
“…And after that I drink my oat shake. So that’s ultrafine oats, blended with a whey scoop, and you drink it. So the shake is around 700 calories. Drink it in one minute, the salmon you eat in 2 minutes. So I have 1000 calories and around 70 grams of protein literally in 3 minutes. And that’s simplified my diet so much and I’ve kept progressing with that diet-before my break, at least. I just prep the meat the evening before and then I make all these little bags of oats that I just drink on set.”
Also, Amazon did provide a third season synopsis:
Based on Lee Child’s novel Persuader, Reacher hurtles into the dark heart of a vast criminal enterprise when trying to rescue an undercover DEA informant whose time is running out. There, he finds a world of secrecy and violence and confronts some unfinished business from his own past.
Now, what of the fourth season? This show’s audience will accept any of Child’s dozens of Jack Reacher novels, but sometime, Tripwire needs to be the focus with Reacher eating Key Lime Pie in Key West. If the series ends without that sight (and perhaps another Malcolm Goodwin cameo as Finlay to mark that moment), then there is no TV justice in this world.
Cast
The major showdowns will happen between Ritchson and Ritchers, and of course Maria Sten’s Neagley will be around as the connecting thread between Reacher chapters and to warm up her own spin off.
Other layers include villainy by Anthony Michael Hall as Zachary Beck “a formidable and successful businessman.” And since the ladies cannot stay away from Reacher (and that’s also part of this show’s ongoing jokes), he has a new love interest in DEA agent Susan Duffy, portrayed by Sonya Cassidy.
Release Date
Reacher‘s third season premieres on Feb. 20, 2025.