Why Reacher's Stunt Coordinator Was Shocked By Season 4's Scripts [Set Visit]

Being the stunt coordinator for a show like "Reacher" might just be the toughest job in show business. Not only are you in charge of arguably the most important aspect of a series that's essentially one long fight montage, you also have to make sure you outdo yourself with each new season. For British stunt coordinator extraordinaire Buster Reeves, "Reacher" Season 4 posed a unique challenge in that respect, and when he saw what the writers had in store to overcome that challenge, he was taken aback to say the least.

Alan Ritchson made a bold "Reacher" Season 4 promise when he suggested this latest outing would be Jack Reacher's bloodiest yet. That was a significant claim, considering Season 3 saw him face off against Olivier Richters' hulking henchman Paulie in what was easily the most brutal battle in the entire series. But it seems the production team genuinely have tried to push themselves with the upcoming season — almost giving Reeves a heart attack in the process.

During a set visit attended by /Film, Reeves spoke about the moment he first read the script. "First thought that went through my head?" he said. "F***." That says a lot coming from the man who's worked on everything from the "Bourne" and James Bond movies to "The Dark Knight" and "Mission: Impossible III." "I think in the first four episodes we had 11 fights," he explained. "And not just skirmishes, we had 11 choreographed, pre-viz, everybody has to learn their section fights [...] So we kind of hit the ground running."

Alan Ritchson felt something went wrong with "Reacher" Season 2. That thing was the fight choreography, with the actor telling The Movie Podcast, "I was really upset with the way some of those fights were executed." He and the production team more than made up for it with "Reacher" Season 3, which at one point paid homage to a Sylvester Stallone classic with one of the best fight scenes in the entire series. But it seems that wasn't enough for Ritchson and the writers, who might have shaved a few years of Buster Reeves' life with their Season 4 plans.

Recalling his initial reaction to the script, Reeves said, "Normally, I like to trickle my team in, on what I need. But this, I had to go, 'I need my full team here now so we can all get cracking.' It's been a busy, busy season for sure.'" From the very beginning, then, "Reacher" Season 4 was pushing the envelope when it came to stunts and fight choreography, which means it might just live up to Ritchson's seemingly impossible promise of being the bloodiest season yet.

Ultimately, Reeves and his team brought the vast amount of fight scenes to fruition, but there were significant nerves at the very beginning of shooting. "I think there was one point where I thought, 'I don't know if anybody's going to be as good as what I want them to be with the timeframe we've got,'" remembered Reeves, who did, in the end, manage to meet the ambitious demands of the writers using a few tricks.

"Reacher" Season 4 is based on the book with the most bonkers reveal, and it seems as though the fights will be just as wild. But it wasn't just the amount or scale of the fights that made Buster Reeves nervous. Some of the biggest hurdles came with preparing the less experienced members of the cast. As Reeves put it:

"What we essentially have to do is, we have to take someone with little to no martial arts or any type of screen-fight experience, and make them look like black belts, within the course of like eight, nine weeks [...] So we've kind of got to put them through a really intense crash course."

New additions to the cast include French singer-songwriter/actress Anggun and Indonesian singer Agnez Mo. Reeves and his team had to get them up to speed on the combat, and would sometimes opt to teach them slightly less complex fight moves. "We hate to simplify stuff," he said, "But sometimes simple makes it look good, because they can do it good, rather than do a complicated move badly." That's the kind of straightforward approach Jack Reacher himself would be proud of.

Based on the 13th Jack Reacher novel, "Gone Tomorrow," "Reacher" Season 4 features one of the most insane fights in "Reacher" history. Without giving too much away, the battle in question sees Reacher face off against two assailants with a very different fighting style to his own. That, combined with Reeves' initial shock at the sheer volume of combat in the new season, suggests the "Reacher" crew might just have outdone Season 3 and lived up to Alan Ritchson's promise of the most brutal season yet.