Alan Ritchson Believes Adaptations Like Amazon's Reacher Need TV, Not Films

In the current golden era of dad TV, Prime Video's "Reacher," starring the hulking Alan Ritchson, has become a bonafide smash. Based on author Lee Child's first book in the series, titled "Killing Floor," the first season of "Reacher" came in at number one on the Nielson ratings streaming chart, immediately guaranteeing a second season and solidifying Ritchson as the definitive portrayal of the character to date (apologies to Tom Cruise). The much-anticipated second season is adapted from the book "Bad Luck and Trouble," the eleventh book in Child's series. The new season recently wrapped and is apparently "awesome," according to Amazon Studios' Head of Television Vernon Sanders. The story will center around the mysterious deaths of members from Reacher's former military unit, causing the wandering brute to start investigating the murders, which leads him to uncover a much darker conspiracy. 

With 26 books by Lee Child in total, "Reacher" has more than enough material to mine for multiple seasons. The first book established the world of Jack Reacher beautifully, serving as the perfect blueprint for a TV adaptation that could delve into the character much deeper than the two feature films featuring Cruise. Ritchson has already bounced back to the big screen as a new addition to "Fast X," but the budding star is perfectly content to keep Jack Reacher firmly planted in the more story-driven world of television. "If we're gonna take a story and adapt it from a book to a feature or streaming, I'd pick streaming every time," Ritchson told BlackFilmAndTV. "We get eight episodes to really dive into the characters and the story points, and a feature's not enough time to do that well, I think."

The character of Jack Reacher is a perfect fit for episodic TV, and clearly, fans of the books have responded in kind. There's plenty of room for the mysteries to unfold on a streaming show, when even a fully fleshed out feature may be forced to dial back the conspiracy aspects of Child's novels in favor of more bone-splitting action. "Reacher" has impeccable timing in today's media landscape, and Ritchson points out how the series has the potential to be faithful to the source material without losing any key ingredients, telling BFTV:

"When the films were around, they were fantastic, but we're just in a new era here for storytelling. I think we benefit from that, and fans of the books will appreciate that, what it offers, and I think it's a faithful adaptation for them. Because it's this format, we can make it make sense and round out these characters, and the ancillary characters/supporting cast in a way that those who haven't read the books will enjoy it just as much."

Rest assured, there will be plenty of intense fights and showdowns in random diners when season 2 of "Reacher" finally drops. But with room to grow and expand, the Prime Video hit series can still keep the detective aspect of Jack Reacher's character intact, allowing an opportunity for some deeper storylines to unfold that could make future seasons of "Reacher" a little more substantial. For now, "Reacher" seems tailor-made for the age of streaming and binge watching that the younger generation has already fully embraced. Now, it's our parents who are finally adapting to a new form of entertainment that's making them stay up way past their bedtimes.