Jack Reacher will be back, but this time, it will be on the small-screen as it's been announced that Amazon has landed the rights to develop a script-to-series drama based upon the Jack Reacher character in Lee Child's best-selling book series.
After serving in the U.S. Army as a Major in the Military Police Corps, Jack Reacher left the service and began roaming the United States taking odd jobs and investigating suspicious and dangerous situations. The series has spawned nearly two dozen novels, an assortment of short stories, and two feature-film adaptations starring Tom Cruise as the titular character, so it's only natural that Reacher would hit television as well. Nick Santora, best known for his work on Prison Break, Breakout Kings, and Scorpion, has been tapped to write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner on the Jack Reacher series for Amazon. This isn't the only TV series which Santora has in the works, as he's also developing a new take on The Fugitive for Quibi, an upcoming short-form streaming service which has already attracted the likes of Jason Blum, Steven Soderbergh, and Steven Spielberg.
Jack Reacher's leap to television confirms what Lee Child revealed to BBC News last November, when he said there wouldn't be anymore movies with Tom Cruise as he was hoping to take the series to Netflix or some other streaming service. The author also stated that they'll likely use this as an opportunity to cast a physically appropriate actor in the role, who is described in the novels as standing 6'5" with "a six-pack like a cobbled city street" and hands "the size of dinner plates." Although Childs enjoyed working with Cruise on the movies, he now agrees with those who deemed the actor to be physically unsuitable.
I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He's a really, really nice guy. We had a lot of fun. But ultimately the readers are right. The size of Reacher is really, really important and it's a big component of who he is. The idea is that when Reacher walks into a room, you're all a little nervous just for that first minute. And Cruise, for all his talent, didn't have that physicality.
I found the first JACK REACHER film, which was directed by Christopher McQuarrie, to be surprisingly entertaining, but the sequel, JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK, unfortunately felt like quite the letdown. While I would have been open to another film with Tom Cruise in the role, I'm excited to see what a Jack Reacher TV series could bring.