Summary
Reacher’s third season delivers relentless action and compelling backstory, even if its main villain takes a back seat to the chaos.
WARNING: This review avoids major spoilers, but some key plot points beyond the first episode are discussed and may spoil a few surprises. Proceed with caution.
There was a moment in the opening sequence of the latest season of REACHER when my partner turned to me and said, “Does trouble just find him wherever he goes?” There’s really only one answer: “That’s for damn sure.”
Following a first season based on Lee Child’s first book Killing Floor and a stellar second outing jumping ahead to the eleventh Reacher novel, Bad Luck and Trouble, this third season pulls us back to 2003’s Persuader, the seventh book in the series.
It’s a terrific opening: Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) foils the kidnapping of a young man named Richard (Johnny Berchtold) but accidentally kills a cop in the process. Richard’s father, Zachary (Anthony Michael Hall), is grateful but wary, especially since he seems entangled in some shady dealings. Tentatively taking Reacher under his wing as a strongman, Zachary keeps him close—but by the end of episode one, the rug is pulled out from under us.
Reacher is secretly working for the DEA. Agent Susan Duffy (Sonya Cassidy) has enlisted him to help track down her missing colleague, offering her assistance in return to apprehend Xavier Quinn (Brian Tee), a ghost from Reacher’s past he thought was long dead.
There are few moments this season that aren’t nail-biters. Russian roulette serves as a motif in the first and sixth episodes—a familiar setup, but one that feels true to the scenario. It sets the tone for the brutal and relentless eight-episode arc, a tense game of cat and mouse where we’re left holding our breath, wondering if Reacher’s undercover op will be exposed. The action shifts between tight, close-quarters combat and large-scale explosions, both natural progressions for this one-man army.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the Reacher novels is how they weave in pieces of his past, whether as brief sidebars or full-length flashbacks. Like Season 2—where the story alternated between present events and Reacher assembling the tight-knit 110th Special Investigations Unit—this season delves even further back. His history with Quinn is a dark one, predating the 110th, and these moments offer insight into where Reacher developed his unwavering sense of justice and his signature cool exterior.
Speaking of the past, Neagly (Maria Sten), a key player in Season 2, returns for a few episodes. While her presence isn’t strictly necessary, it’s a welcome one. Of course, it also serves as a bit of a backdoor pilot—Neagly’s spin-off series is set to film throughout 2025.
The rest of the cast is rock solid. Ritchson continues to embody the titular character, and this season, Amazon has clearly recognised what reviewers really want: Reacher in his underwear as often as inhumanly possible. Once you get past British actress Cassidy’s broad Boston accent, she makes for a compelling equal (and love interest) to the lead. They’ve also recruited the towering Olivier Richters—a Dutch bodybuilder who looks like he wandered over from a Middle-earth set—who, at 7’2″, somehow makes the already mountainous Ritchson look small.
Quinn is a bit of a non-entity for most of the show, which might be its only misstep. However, there are enough minor bad guys to keep the series pacey. The final episode opens with an ambush in a scrapyard—a shootout with a ticking clock—but the main event is a brutal hand-to-hand fight between Richters and Ritchson, a real knock-down, drag-out brawl that goes for a good twenty minutes. That leaves little time for the final confrontation between old foes, though when Reacher is involved, very little chatter is required.
Looking back at my review of the first season, I wrote that it was “really hard to imagine a Jack Reacher story done any better than this.” Turns out I was wrong. The series just keeps going from strength to strength, hitting its stride early and often. REACHER remains the kind of show that could run for a decade—let’s face it, they’re not exactly short on source material.
2025 | USA | DIRECTORS: Sam Hill, Gary Fleder | WRITERS: Nick Santora (creator), Scott Sullivan, Penny Cox, Cait Duffy, Lillian Wang, Michael J. Gutierrez (Based on the book Persuader by Lee Child) | CAST: Alan Ritchson, Anthony Michael Hall, Sonya Cassidy, Johnny Berchtold, Brian Tee | DISTRIBUTOR: Amazon Prime Video | EPISODES: 8
