Summary

• Reacher season 3 benefits from lower stakes in its adaptation of Persuader, setting it apart from season 2's high-stakes drama.
• Adapting Persuader allows for a return to the roots of season 1, showcasing Jack Reacher as a lone wolf in crime-solving endeavors.
• Amazon's Reacher series should focus on more solo stories before delving into larger global conspiracies for a natural progression.

Lee Child’s Persuader offers way lower stakes for Jack Reacher than Bad Luck and Trouble, but this might actually benefit Reacher season 3. While a release window for Reacher season 3 has not been confirmed yet, behind-the-scenes details have revealed some casting choices that have been made for the Amazon show’s third installment. It has also been disclosed that Reacher season 3 will tread the same path as seasons 1 and 2 by adapting only one entire Lee Child book.

Since the Amazon show is not following the order of the original book series, Persuader will work out well for Reacher season 3 or drag down the series’ overall quality. However, from the looks of it, its low-stakes action is already setting up Reacher season 3 as a superior adaptation compared to season 2.

Persuader Offers Reacher Lower Stakes Than Bad Luck & Trouble

Persuader's scope if more limited than Bad Luck & Trouble

Reacher season 2 adapted Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble and unfolded in New York City, focusing on an international conspiracy that involved a major terrorist trade. Reacher season 3, however, seems to be taking a step back by adapting Lee Child's Persuader, which does not exactly raise the stakes for the main character.

Although Persuader is a compelling novel, it primarily revolves around a revenge plot in which Jack Reacher sets out to punish a former Military Intelligence agent, Quinn. Compared to Reacher season 2, where Alan Ritchson's character goes up against the powerful and dangerous players of an international terrorist deal, season 3's Persuader adaption may seem significantly less grandiose in scope. However, even though it is hard not to assume that this creative decision could weigh season 3 down, it looks like it might benefit it in more ways than one.

Lower Stakes Would Make Reacher Season 3 Similar To Season 1

From character beats to relatively smaller settings, Reacher seasons 1 and 3 might have a lot in common

If Reacher season 3 closely adapts Persuader, it will have more in common with season 1 than season 2. While Reacher season 2 does an incredible job of portraying the titular character's former team from the 110th Special Investigations Unit, it is forced to split its runtime between Dixon, Neagley, O'Donnell, and Reacher because they are crucial players in the overarching drama and have a lot to contribute to the central crime-solving. Reacher season 1, in contrast, featured more or less of a solo mission in which the Alan Ritchson character was merely assisted by Roscoe and Finlay.

Just like Reacher was deadset on serving justice to his brother's killers in season 1, he will avenge the death of one of his former military colleagues in season 3.

By adapting Persuader, Reacher season 3 will again tread the same path as season 1 by following a solitary Jack Reacher crime-solving endeavor. Like Roscoe and Finlay, characters like Susan Duffy will help Reacher along the way in season 3. However, the show will primarily focus on the titular character instead of balancing its runtime between all the main characters. Just like Reacher was deadset on serving justice to his brother's killers in season 1, he will avenge the death of one of his former military colleagues in season 3.

Reacher Season 3 Benefits More From Being Like Season 1 Than Season 2

Reacher season 3's season 1 similarities allow it to avoid season 2's biggest pitfalls

Since most television shows of the crime and detective genre attempt to gradually raise the stakes for the central characters with each season, it would have made sense for Reacher season 3 to adapt a Lee Child book that features even bigger global conspiracies than Bad Luck and Trouble. However, Reacher season 3 is better off adapting Lee Child's Persuader because, as season 1 establishes, the Amazon show's primary appeal comes from its portrayal of Jack Reacher's larger-than-life presence and unorthodox methods of solving crime.

Reacher season 1 captured exactly that, allowing it to become a hit among readers and non-readers of Lee Child's works. While Reacher season 2 attempted to do something similar, the bigger scale of its drama often overshadowed the character-driven elements that make Reacher stand out in the "spy" genre. By returning to the show's roots and portraying a Lee Child story that shows Jack Reacher as a lone wolf, Reacher season 3 is seemingly setting itself on the right track toward succeeding and bringing back what made the show memorable in the opening season.

Why Having Higher Stakes Did Not Work Well For Reacher Season 2

Reacher season 2's shift in tone and pace felt sudden and unnatural

While Amazon's Reacher should eventually focus on high-stakes missions and grand global conspiracies, Reacher season 2 seemed to shift the series' tone suddenly. After season 1's small-scale approach and quaint Margrave setting, Reacher season 2 was a little too over the top because it was not consistent with the expectations season 1 had set up for the show's future. Reacher season 2 also had a fair share of merits, but it struggled with fully fleshing out its villains and making them look formidable enough to take down the main character and his former military allies.

Given how Reacher is now a successful IP for Amazon, the streamer should feature more solo Jack Reacher stories while gradually building up to larger-scale crime-solving missions.

All in all, it was too soon for the Amazon series to delve into high-stakes action. Given how Reacher is now a successful IP for Amazon, the streamer should feature more solo Jack Reacher stories while gradually building up to larger-scale crime-solving missions. With this approach, Amazon's Reacher will have a more natural progression from one season to another.

Reacher seasons 1 and 2 are available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.