Alan Ritchson Will Dispatch More Bad Guys In Reacher Season 2
This post contains spoilers for season 1 of "Reacher."
The first season of Prime Video's "Reacher" was absurdly good fun. After Tom Cruise played the U.S. Army Major and former military policeman in two movies, Amazon had a go at adapting Lee Child's novels into a TV series, recruiting a more book-accurate lead actor in the form of Alan Ritchson. The 40-year-old had previously shown up in everything from "Smallville" to HBO's "Titans," finding time to star as Raphael in 2014's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot in between. But Jack Reacher is arguably his most notable role, with Ritchson fully embodying the hulking 6'5" powerhouse that Child originally envisioned. (Sorry, Tom Cruise).
Thankfully, the show surrounding the oversized star proved to be just as exaggerated, featuring absurdly brutal fight scenes where Reacher dispatches rooms of bad guys with ease before finding some flimsy excuse to take his shirt off. It's all kinds of pulpy goodness, and proved popular among viewers. "Reacher" set a record for Amazon Prime by topping the Nielson streaming chart for the week of February 7 to February 13, 2022. Unsurprisingly, the streaming service renewed the show for a second season just days after its eight episodes first debuted.
With 26 Jack Reacher books in Child's series, there's plenty of source material for showrunner Nick Santora to draw from, and that's aside from the series of short-story anthologies. We already have a rough idea of what season 2 of "Reacher" will bring, and luckily for you we've compiled everything we know into a handy guide.
When and where to watch Reacher season 2
When "Reacher" season 2 arrives, it will be available globally on Amazon's streaming service, Prime Video. The first run of eight episodes all debuted at once on the streamer, and we're expecting the same this time around, though official details on that have yet to be released. In a sizzle reel the Prime Video Twitter account dropped in July, we learned that season 2 would premiere sometime this December. And thanks to an Instagram post from Alan Ritchson — who recently appeared in "Fast X" — we know filming got underway on September 3, 2022. More recently, a separate Instagram update confirmed season 2 officially wrapped in February 2023:
In the post, Ritchson can be seen walking off-set up to a giant clapper board (because, Reacher) before announcing, "It's officially done. Season 2 is back bigger and better than ever. We promised we would, and the proof is in the pudding." Unfortunately, he doesn't give any specific date for when the new season will drop, but with filming complete and Amazon eager to capitalize on one of its most popular shows, it won't be far off. An official announcement should be coming soon, so stay tuned.
What Reacher season 2 will be about
Season 1 of "Reacher" was based on the first Jack Reacher novel, "Killing Floor." Lee Child described that 1997 book to Entertainment Weekly as "the foundational story in the Reacher myth." Now that he's got that solid foundation, we can expect to see Alan Ritchson's Reacher embroiled in an even more implausibly action-packed crime thriller adventure this time around.
The first eight episodes saw the nomadic protagonist visit Margrave, Georgia, where he teams up with Margrave PD captain Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) and officer Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald) to investigate the murder of his own brother, uncovering a vast conspiracy. We've known for some time that "Reacher" season 2 will adapt the book "Bad Luck and Trouble," thanks to a tweet from Ritchson all the way back in May 2022. That's the 11th novel in Child's series, which might seem strange in terms of continuity, but as showrunner Nick Santora told TV Line, "Don't assume we're going chronologically, and don't assume we're not going chronologically. Because [at this moment] we legitimately don't know."
As Amazon confirmed in a press release, "Bad Luck and Trouble" will see Reacher seeking revenge for members of his former military unit after they start turning up dead. Further clues about season 2's storyline come from the synopsis for Child's book, which suggests things could kick off with one of Jack Reacher's former military friends being "sent free-falling" from a helicopter "high above the California desert." Meanwhile, Reacher is in Portland when he's contacted by "a woman from his old military unit" who tells him about the death before two other former comrades disappear. There will likely be differences between the book and the show, but this gives us some idea of what to expect.
What we know about the Reacher season 2 cast and crew
When "Reacher" season 2 does arrive, you can, of course, expect Alan Ritchson — who's spoken about the prep work involved for all those fight scenes — to return. Considering Malcolm Goodwin's Finlay decided to move back to Boston at the end of season 1, and hasn't been confirmed as returning, it's unlikely we'll see him in the new season. The final episode ended with Reacher looking to hitch-hike his way out of Margrave. With that in mind, there will be a lot of new faces and few returning characters for the second run of episodes.
One actor who will be coming back is Maria Sten as Frances Neagley, a private investigator and Reacher's former comrade. Serinda Swan has been confirmed to play Karla Dixon while Shaun Sipos will portray David O'Donnell — both members of Reacher's former military police unit. Rory Cochrane will be playing Shane Langston, a "streetwise former NYPD detective with a questionable track record, who is now head of security for a private defense contractor" (via Deadline). Elsewhere, Ferdinand Kingsley has been confirmed to play A.M., described in the Deadline piece as a "ghost" who "operates under a number of aliases and can pass for any nationality. Money is his only motivation, and he'll work for the highest bidder." Domenick Lombardozzi will play Guy Russo, an NYPD detective who's also on the case of Reacher's former Army colleagues.
Also confirmed for season 2 are Luke Bilyk, Dean McKenzie, Edsson Morales, Andres Collantes, and Shannon Kook-Chun, who collectively make up Reacher's former Special Investigator Task Force. Elsewhere, Ty Victor Olsson has been cast as hitman Saropian, while Josh Blacker will play Lieutenant Colonel Hortense Fields. Lastly, Al Sapienza is set to portray a lieutenant with the NYPD.
Who will be in charge of Reacher season 2?
Once again being produced by Paramount Television, Skydance Media, and Prime Video, "Reacher" season 2 will be overseen by writer, executive producer, and showrunner Nick Santora — who spoke to /Film about his work on "Reacher" back in 2022. The creator of the action drama series "Scorpion" for CBS ran things last season and will be returning this time around to shepherd Jack Reacher's sophomore outing.
Alongside Santora, Lee Child will once again executive produce the show, joined by Don Granger, Scott Sullivan and Adam Higgs. Skydance producers include David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bill Bost.
That's all we know so far about season 2 of "Reacher." With filming wrapped, it won't be too long before we get an official release date announcement — and as soon as more details become available we'll update this page, so make sure to check back for the latest in the near future.