Reacher Season 4 Is Based On The Lee Child Book With The Most Bonkers Reveal In The Whole Series
"Reacher" fans, believe me when I say you're going to want to keep a close eye on this one. The Prime Video series has quickly become must-watch, appointment viewing for dads and action junkies everywhere. Buoyed by Alan Ritchson's super-accurate casting as the hulking vigilante Jack Reacher and the entire creative team's penchant for translating author Lee Child's novels into faithful adaptations on the screen, the streaming show has had no problems whatsoever keeping the good times rolling. That's about to give way to an impending fourth season that appears to be taking its cues from one of the most unforgettable books in the entire series.
After season 3 adapted Child's "Persuader," pitting Reacher against as big a foe as he's ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with (in the form of Paulie, played by Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters), season 4 looks set to up the ante even more. The news comes courtesy of Ritchson himself, who posted on his personal Instagram account a picture of himself holding "Gone Tomorrow," the thirteenth installment in Child's franchise. In his post, the star quoted a brief excerpt from the book along with the news:
"The thing about subway cars is you step on one and you never know what's going to happen."
REACHER Season 4 will be based on "Gone Tomorrow" by Lee Child
On the face of it, the premise feels like as typical a Reacher plot as it gets. To paraphrase the official Goodreads synopsis, the book follows Reacher as he's traveling on a subway car in New York City with five other strangers early in the morning. Naturally, one of them is hiding a massive secret that soon sucks our main hero right into the middle of the action. The story promises a "race" through the streets of Manhattan, a "shadow war" waged by persons unknown, and even what's described as Reacher looking his "worst enemy" square in the eye when it's all said and done. That's just the synopsis, though. Readers know full well that this is merely a cover for arguably the most bonkers plot turns in the entire series.
Read on for more, but be mindful of major spoilers to follow.
Viewers aren't prepared for how wild Reacher season 4 could get
Still here? Good, because this is now full-blown spoiler territory and we're no longer dancing around it anymore. So what can fans expect from "Reacher" season 4? From the creative minds that brought us Reacher versus Bigger Reacher in season 3, we now have Reacher versus ... Al Qaeda. No, seriously, we're not joking.
Over the course of "Gone Tomorrow," which we should note was published in 2009, the major reveal hiding in plain sight eventually comes into focus. Reacher isn't just dealing with some random subway passengers, but a suicide bomber hidden among them. Reacher being Reacher, of course, he can't help but get involved and soon gets pulled into a terrorist conspiracy involving the blackmailing of a significant politician. As if Reacher fending off actual members of Al Qaeda wasn't wild enough, the book saves its biggest reveal for about midway through the story. That politician with dirt on him? He actually has ties to a mission in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan during the 1980s, where he was photographed alongside a young rebel leader by the name of Osama Bin Laden.
Once again, we're being completely serious. Obviously, the original novel was conceived and written during the peak of the United States' invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan, making the subject matter fairly tame at the time. Now, however? It'll be fairly interesting to see just how faithful this season remains to the book. On one hand, the writers will need to thread the needle with such an overtly political plotline that runs the risk of courting backlash from both sides of the aisle. On the other, well, why adapt this book if you aren't going to show us a young Osama Bin Laden?
We're looking forward to it either way. "Reacher" season 4 is currently in the middle of production, so stay tuned to /Film for updates on when the official release date on Prime Video is announced.