About Reacher Season 1 – TV Series

Reacher Season 1

Reacher is an American action crime streaming television series developed by Nick Santora for Amazon Prime Video. Based on the Jack Reacher book series by Lee Child, it stars Alan Ritchson as the title character, a self-proclaimed hobo and former U.S. Army military policeman with formidable strength, intellect, and abilities. Reacher always crosses paths with dangerous criminals and is forced to do battle throughout his travels.

The first season of Reacher was based on Killing Floor, Child’s 1997 debut novel, and was released on February 4, 2022. The second season, based on Bad Luck and Trouble (2007), began on December 15, 2023, and is set to conclude on January 19, 2024. The series has been renewed for a third season.

Reacher Season 1

STORY

Episodes 01

“Welcome to Margrave”

At midnight, a man later identified as Joe Reacher is shot dead just outside Margrave, Georgia. The following morning, Jack Reacher arrives on a Greyhound bus and walks into town, where he is arrested at a diner for the murder. He is sent to be held in the local jail with Paul Hubble, a banker who falsely confessed to the murder. Spivey, a crooked guard, puts them in with the general population, where Reacher brutally foils an attempt on their lives. Hubble explains he confessed to cover for a criminal organization that would have otherwise killed him and his family. After being released, Reacher is verbally threatened in town by the son of local businessman Kliner. When he later returns to the police station, he is informed about a second killing. At the morgue, a discussion about both the recent murder and another one earlier in the week leads him to identify the first victim as his older brother, Joe.

Episodes 02

“First Dance”

Reacher teams up with Finlay, the local police captain, and a cop named Roscoe to investigate his brother’s murder and the recent disappearance of Hubble following his release from custody. Finlay’s boss, Ed Morrison, and his wife are gruesomely murdered at their home. Reacher deduces that he was killed for not taking care of Hubble. The mayor, Grover Teale, himself dirty, takes over as police chief and orders Finlay to conduct a sham investigation into Morrison’s death. Finlay’s friend, FBI agent Picard, agrees to take Hubble’s wife and children into unofficial protective custody. Reacher sets a meeting with Spivey but gets ambushed by two South American ex-soldiers, allowing Spivey to escape. Roscoe then takes him to a bar, where they dance. While driving home, they learn that the road is washed out and are forced to spend the night sleeping in the same motel room, where Reacher opens up about his past.

Episodes 03

“Spoonful”

Roscoe returns home to find evidence of a break-in. At Reacher’s urging, she gives him a gun. The group contacts Joe’s colleague, Molly Beth, at the Secret Service, learning that Joe was in Margrave on a confidential assignment to investigate reports of large-scale counterfeiting. Reacher intimidates one of Kliner’s lawyers for information on Jobling while Finlay checks Spivey’s house for clues – and gets beaten by police after they mistake him for a burglar. The two men then visit Kliner in person. Kliner claims he knows nothing and makes threats to drop the investigation. Reacher convinces Roscoe and Finlay to move out of their homes temporarily. While buying supplies, Roscoe is approached by Kliner’s son KJ, who warns her that Reacher is a murderer. Reacher himself is again ambushed by the ex-soldiers, but this time manages to kill them. He then finds Spivey’s corpse in their car trunk.

Episodes 04

“In a Tree”

After meeting with Finlay, Reacher takes Roscoe to help him dispose of the bodies. He also reveals the truth behind KJ’s warning: while serving in Iraq, Reacher killed three civilian men who were sexually assaulting a group of young boys. After the evidence is dumped at an Atlanta airport, Reacher pays for a hotel room, where he and Roscoe have sex after she surprises him in the shower. The next day, they visit the home of a former Kliner employee and find empty air conditioner boxes that Reacher suspects were used to move the counterfeit cash. Picard gives them a lead on the motel Joe stayed at before he was killed; Reacher finds a hidden note before he and Roscoe are jumped by more mercenaries. Roscoe saves Reacher’s life, and Reacher admits that he put himself in danger to protect her. Molly Beth arrives in Atlanta with Joe’s files on the case, but someone kills her and steals the files seconds before Reacher finds her.

Episodes 05

“No Apologies”

Feeling guilty for Molly Beth’s murder, Reacher takes out his frustration by attacking KJ after he vandalizes Roscoe’s truck. Kliner declines to press charges. Roscoe learns that Teale has fired her for “subpar” police work. Desperate for new leads, Reacher finds a key and trunk left by Roscoe’s deceased former boss Gray, containing research that confirms Reacher’s suspicions that Margrave is the heart of Kliner’s counterfeiting operation, but with no useable evidence. Traveling to Memphis, Reacher meets with his old comrade, private investigator Frances Neagley, to find a hitman who may have been Joe’s murderer. After Roscoe punches Teale upon learning that he murdered Gray, Finlay gets her out of town by having her replace Picard as the Hubble family’s bodyguard. Reacher and Neagley survive an attempt on their lives by a desperate Memphis cop whose family was threatened. Finlay breaks into Kliner’s office only to find that Kliner has just been killed.

Episodes 06

“Papier”

Finlay and Reacher follow one of Kliner’s trucks. Finlay tells Reacher the real reason he came to Margrave was not due to divorce, but because his wife Sharon died after a long illness. After finding the truck empty, Reacher goes to New York City to meet with one of Joe’s contacts, Professor Kate Castillo, having found that another contact had been murdered under the guise of being mugged. He determines that Kliner had been shipping counterfeit money to a client in Venezuela, using “super bills” made from the specialized paper used in printing dollars. Assassins find Roscoe and Hubble’s family, but Roscoe dispatches both men in the woods. While waiting for Picard, Hubble’s wife Charlie shares the details of their involvement with Kliner, explaining that Paul was tricked into laundering money and was then forced to watch a man be crucified to ensure his loyalty. Reacher arranges for Castillo to get police protection and uses his necktie to strangle an assassin sent to kill her.

Episodes 07

“Reacher Said Nothing”

Officer Stevenson and his pregnant wife are murdered by a hit squad seeking information about the Hubble family. Teale fires Finlay on a pretext the next morning. Reacher pretends to confide in the last Margrave officer, Baker (who Reacher believes is corrupt), sharing a fake plan to search Hubble’s house. Finlay goes in person to inform Stevenson’s parents of his death. The hit squad goes to Hubble’s house, planning to kill Reacher, but he traps and kills them all, including Kliner’s nephew Dawson. Based on the information he’s gathered, he realizes Kliner was bleaching $1 bills to get the paper needed to print his money. Reacher checks in with Roscoe, who shares his discovery with Picard. Reacher helps Finlay evade mercenaries who track him to his motel due to his visit to the Stevensons’. Reacher and Finlay return to Jobling’s house, which has been burned to the ground. They search Jobling’s parents’ house and find boxes of counterfeit bills. They arrange a meet with Picard, but when they arrive, Picard is waiting with KJ and Teale.

Episodes 08

“Pie”

Revealing himself to be the one behind all the murders, KJ shows Reacher a live stream of a captive Roscoe and sends him and Picard to find Hubble. Reacher tricks Picard into stopping to fix a tire and shoots him; Picard is able to escape. Reacher immediately finds Hubble, who reveals he was working with Joe and Jobling (who feared that he would be murdered for stealing counterfeit bills) to stop Kliner’s operation. Finlay is tortured by Baker at the precinct; Reacher rams the station with a truck and kills him. Neagley arrives, and Reacher gathers weapons before torching Kliner’s factory with gasoline. Finlay crushes Picard to death in a hydraulic press, while Roscoe subdues and handcuffs Teale before shooting him when he goes for her gun. As the warehouse goes up in flames, Reacher douses KJ with flammable chemicals and kicks him into the fire, leaving him for dead. A flashback reveals how Reacher’s mother died in Paris after a long illness and gives him his French grandfather’s Croix de Guerre. Roscoe gives Reacher her number and says to call whenever he wants. She tells him that she wants to rebuild Margrave; Reacher suggests she consider running for Mayor. Finlay decides to move back to Boston. After burying the medal where Joe died, Reacher quietly walks out of Margrave and sticks out his thumb for a ride, continuing his journeys.

CAST

Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher
Malcolm Goodwin as Oscar Finlay (season 1; guest season 2), Margrave PD Police Captain and Chief Detective
Willa Fitzgerald as Roscoe Conklin (season 1), Margrave PD Sergeant
Chris Webster as KJ Kliner (season 1), the entitled son of Kliner Sr. who is assisting his father’s criminal operation
Bruce McGill as Mayor Grover Teale (season 1), a crooked politician in league with the Kliner family
Maria Sten as Frances Neagley, a corporate security professional who served with Reacher in the 110th Special Investigations Unit as a Master Sergeant
Willie C. Carpenter as Mosley (season 1), an elderly barber and longtime resident of Margrave
Harvey Guillén as Jasper (season 1), Margrave’s medical examiner
Maxwell Jenkins as young Jack Reacher (season 1)
Gavin White and Christopher Russell as Joe Reacher (season 1), a Secret Service agent and Reacher’s older brother. White plays young Joe and Russell portrays the character as an adult.
Leslie Fray as Josephine Reacher (season 1), Reacher’s mother
Matthew Marsden as Stan Reacher (season 1), Reacher’s father
Hugh Thompson as Baker (season 1), a corrupt Margrave officer on Kliner’s payroll
Jonathan Koensgen as Stevenson (season 1), a Margrave officer and Paul Hubble’s cousin
AJ Simmons as Dawson (season 1), Kliner’s nephew who works as a hitman and enforcer for his uncle’s crime operation
Marc Bendavid as Paul Hubble (season 1), a banker strong-armed into assisting the Kliner counterfeiting ring
Patrick Garrow as Taylor Spivey (season 1), a corrupt corrections officer paid off by Kliner to kill Hubble.
Kristin Kreuk as Charlene “Charlie” Hubble (season 1), Paul’s wife
Currie Graham as Kliner Sr. (season 1), the owner of Kliner Industries who is secretly fronting an illegal counterfeiting operation for South American cartel outfits.
Martin Roach as Picard (season 1), an FBI agent and old friend of Finlay’s who is later revealed to be working with the Kliner crime operation.

PRODUCTION

Development

On July 15, 2019, a TV series adaptation of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series was announced by Amazon. Nick Santora, who created Scorpion, was set to write, showrun, and produce the series through Paramount Television and Skydance Media. On January 14, 2020, the TV series was greenlit, with Don Granger, Scott Sullivan, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross, and Christopher McQuarrie as executive producers with Child. The first season was announced as an adaptation of Child’s novel Killing Floor. In July 2021, it was announced M. J. Bassett had joined the series as a director. On February 7, 2022, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season. To adapt the books to screen the writers decided they would need to make Reacher verbalize his thoughts more often, but that they would keep his dialogue short and direct and have him only speak longer to people he respects. They also decided to introduce Neagley to the series earlier than in the books. On December 2, 2023, ahead of the second-season premiere, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a third season.