Reacher Season 3 Adds 7-Foot-4 ‘Dutch Giant’ as Big Bad’s Bodyguard — Here’s Everything Else We Know
The news about Season 3 of the Prime Video hit Reacher continues to be B-I-G.
More from TVLine
Welcome to Derry: Bill Skarsg?rd to Reprise IT Role as Pennywise
TVLine Items: John Stamos Joins UnPrisoned, Netflix's Minecraft Series and More
Season 2, which was based on Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th book in Lee Child’s series of Jack Reacher novels, followed the titular veteran military police investigator (played by Titans‘ Alan Ritchson) as he reunited with members of his old U.S. Army unit in the wake of the brutal murder of one of their own.
Hitting pause on his drifter lifestyle, Reacher investigated the killing with three of his former teammates: Frances Neagley (played by Season 1 returnee Maria Sten); Karla Dixon (Coroner‘s Serinda Swan), a forensic accountant for whom Reacher has long had a soft spot; and switchblade-wielding family man David O’Donnell (Outer Range‘s Shaun Sipos).
Now, series lead Alan Ritchson has revealed via Instagram which Lee Child novel the TV series’ third season is based on, which in turns hints at the roles that must have been quietly cast.
Here is everything we now know about Reacher Season 3…..
Which Book Is Season 3 Based On?
Reacher Season 1 was based on Killing Floor, Lee Child’s 1997 debut novel/first Jack Reacher tale, and had a Feb. 4, 2022 binge release. The second season, based on Bad Luck and Trouble — the 11th book in the Jack Reacher series — streamed Dec. 15, 2023 through Jan. 19, 2024.
Season 3, series star Alan Ritchson announced Jan. 24 on Instagram, will adapt Persuader, the seventh of Lee Child’s Reacher novels, set in Maine.
“Ten years ago, a key investigation went sour and someone got away with murder. Now a chance encounter brings it all back,” an Amazon synopsis for the book tells us. “Now Reacher sees his one last shot. Some would call it vengeance. Some would call it redemption. Reacher would call it… justice.”
Officially, though, Prime Video sums up Season 3 thusly: “Reacher must go undercover to rescue an informant held by a haunting foe from his past.”
‘Persuader’ by Lee Child
“It’s going to be awesome,” showrunner Nick Santora told TVLine ahead of the source material’s reveal. “I think it might be my favorite story all three seasons.”
Said story will return the series to its “solo” Reacher format, whereas Season 2 reunited the hulking nomad with his team. As Santora told The Messenger, “We felt we needed a book that was more Reacher alone for the third season.”
What’s more, “We get to enjoy Reacher in a new world,” series lead Alan Ritchson told ComicBook.com. “It may not have anything to do with family, with his past, he’s just living that adventure out.”
Season 3 is also “crustier than ever,” Ritchson teased with the Instagram photo above.
Who Is Returning for Season 3?
Seeing as he appears in the video above, announcing the Season 3 renewal while on set in Toronto in December, we are going to safely “assume” that Alan Ritchson is back in the title role. (That was a joke, son.)
Prime Video has also confirmed that Maria Sten will again reprise her role as Frances Neagley.
But as with Season 2 — and in keeping with the lone wolf that author Lee Child created — there are likely to be few in any other returning characters from past seasons. (There’s always the chance for a singular cameo a la Season 2, Episode 4, of course.)
“The rules are that Reacher doesn’t run with a crew,” showrunner Nick Santora reminds. The other members of the 110th Special Investigators unit, featured heavily in Season 2, “are his family, his colleagues from the military, but he wanders the world alone. So, we know we can’t have Reacher with a rag tag team of people that go with him from city to city. That’s not the book.”
Which Actors Are New for Season 3?
Season 3 has been filming since at least early December 2023, so someone is standing in front of the cameras alongside Alan Ritchson.
“I can’t give too much away,” showrunner Nick Santora told TVLine in January, though akin to those he brought on board for Seasons 1 (Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald, Maria Sten) and 2 (Serinda Swan, Shaun Sipos, Domenick Lombardozzi), “there are actors I’ve worked with before that are so talented in this [third] season as well. I like to go back to the same well because if you know someone’s going to hit a home run, give them the bat.”
On Feb. 8, we got our first two pieces of Season 3 castings: Anthony Michael Hall (most recently of Bosch: Legacy) will play Zachary Beck, a formidable and successful businessman/owner of a rug import company that Reacher suspects is a cover for a more nefarious operation, while Sonya Cassidy (Lodge 49) has been cast as Susan Duffy, an extremely intelligent and tough DEA agent from Boston with a sharp and sarcastic sense of humor.
Additional casting, as announced on March 6, includes Brian Tee (Chicago Med) as Quinn, a physically imposing and intimidating Lieutenant Colonel whom Reacher investigated 10 years ago when he sold military secrets to hostile nations; Johnny Berchtold (Tiny Beautiful Things) as Richard Beck, a sensitive and artistic college student who lost his mother when he was young and is the only son of businessman Zachary Beck (Hall); Roberto Montesinos (9-1-1: Lone Star) as Guillermo Villanueva, a DEA agent on the verge of retirement and father figure of Agent Susan Duffy (Cassidy); and Daniel David Stewart (For All Mankind) as Steven Elliot, a clean-cut rookie DEA agent.
Last but far from least, it was confirmed in May 24 that Olivier “The Dutch Giant” Richters, who clocks in at 7-foot-4 and some 350 lbs., will play Zachary Beck’s bodyguard, Paulie. Richters’ credits include Marvel’s Black Widow, where he arm-wrestled David Harbour’s Red Guardian.
How Many Episodes Is Season 3?
Season 1 of the Prime Video hit spanned eight episodes, all of which dropped on Feb. 4, 2022.
The second season, which streamed Dec. 15, 2023 through Jan. 19, 2024, also spanned eight episodes.
Neither Prime Video nor showrunner Nick Santora have specified an episode count for Season 3, but we are going to go out on a limb and excluuuuuuusively predict “eight.”
When Is Season 3’s Release Date?
Hmm. Math. Where’s Dixon when you need her…?
Reacher Season 1 filmed for three months, then was released seven months later.
Reacher Season 2 filmed for about five months, then was released 10 months later.
We’re going to split the difference and pencil in a four-month shoot, and predict another December premiere date à la Season 2. But that is 100% unabashed spitballing, folks. Thus far, Prime Video (like Reacher often in the novels) says nothing.
Want scoop on Reacher Season 3, or for any other TV show ? Email [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
Best of TVLine
The Best Streaming Services in 2024: Disney+, Hulu, Max and More
What's New on Netflix in January — Plus: Disney+, Hulu, Amazon and Others
Get more from TVLine.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
