Lee Child’s 'Jack Reacher' series in the works at Amazon, a chance for fans to see the character's arc in detail
It's official. There will be a new Jack Reacher in town. Last we saw, Tom Cruise played the former U.S. Army Military Police Corps. officer in two installments, 'Jack Reacher' (2012) and 'Jack Reacher: Never Go Back' (2016).
'Jack Reacher' was directed by Christopher McQuarrie ('The Way of the Gun') while the sequel was helmed by Edward Zwick ('The Last Samurai'). Now, Amazon has won the rights to develop a series based on the character in Lee Child's novels. According to Variety, the series hails from Nick Santora ('Scorpion') who will write, be showrunner and executive producer of the series.
Child has written 48 'Jack Reacher' novels so far and over 100 million copies have been sold till date. The movie installments grossed nearly $400 million combined. Christopher McQuarrie and Don Granger will also be executive producers.
The series is a co-production between Amazon, Skydance Television and Paramount Television. David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Marcy Ross will executive produce for Skydance, and Carolyn Harris will oversee the project on the studio's behalf.
'Jack Reacher' and its sequel had average ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. (They were rated 63% and 38% respectively). Despite having Cruise onboard, the movies met with mixed reviews and it is interesting to see how the series will pan out.
At the moment, there is no official word on who would be playing the character nor the plotline. The movies were based on Child's 'Jack Reacher' series, 'One Shot' and 'Never Go Back', and we don't know yet if Amazon's version would be an anthology series.
The move, however, comes as good news to fans who can now expect a more closer resemblance of the character from the novels. The traits could be better established and with the series being a reboot, the first part could serve as Reacher's origin story and then continue to establish his missions over the course of the series. The movies just breezed through Reacher's past life as a Major and his stellar achievements and with the series, hopefully, we get a better insight into the character's past.
Much like Amazon's successful spy-centered action drama, 'Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan', which has been greenlit for a third season, the streaming service could keep the Reacher series crisper, shorter and span at least five seasons given the volume of books Child has written based on the character.
'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan' met with a positive critical response upon its premiere and critics praised the show terming it, "smart", "confident" and "thorough". If the 'Jack Reacher' series could be worked with the same elements and have an actor like John Krasinski who played Jack Ryan, then Child's book-to-series adaptation is sure to go a long way with the audience.
The cast and production dates are yet to be officially announced. Amazon's other originals include 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel', 'The Boys', 'Carnival Row', 'The Expanse', 'Fleabag', 'Goliath, Hanna', 'The Hunt', ' and 'Invincible.'
Watch this space for more updates on the series.
