'Reacher' Season 2 Is Based on Another Thrilling Book by Lee Child

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Jack Reacher, the swole and swaggering drifter on a quest for justice, is back. Season 2 of Amazon's hugely popular action series has officially begun on Prime Video, kicking off a new season-long story arc that will span all eight episodes.

The first season of Reacher, which stars Alan Ritchson as the titular hero, was based on the novel Killing Floor by Lee Child, the 1997 book which first introduced the character. Child has since authored a staggering 26 novels in the Jack Reacher series, and the TV show is taking the approach of adapting one volume per season. However, the Prime series is not necessarily going to follow the same order as the original books.

Ritchson himself stated his desire last year to adapt Die Trying, the second chronological Jack Reacher story, for Season 2. ""I would just keep going in order," he said. "As I read, I read them all sequentially, although they bounce back and forth in time, as far as the story is concerned. Each book got better than the last. I loved Die Trying, and I'd love to see that one made some day."

It turns out the inspiration for this second season is drawn from a much later installment in Child's long-running saga.

Season 2 of Reacher is based on the 11th book in the series.

The new season of the show will follow the plot of Bad Luck and Trouble, the eleventh Jack Reacher novel originally published in 2007. Child has described Bad Luck and Trouble as a "reunion" story, bringing Reacher back into contact with his old unit of army investigators, a narrative decision which enables the reader—and now the viewer—to see more vulnerability from the character.

"In the military, Reacher, operating as a member of a team, had trusted equals rather than being a loner. Ten years later, he’s been very confident about the path he’s chosen. Now, he’s meeting with these people that at one time meant everything to him," he explained in a 2011 interview. "These are true comparisons for him. But Reacher is perpetually a bit marginal about money. So he meets with these people again after ten years, and he’s going to think: 'Who’s made the right choice here, me or them? Are they dumb, or am I dumb?'"

"There’s a kind of wobble in his self-confidence, because only these people could induce that," he continued. "So, it was all about reunions—the good, the bad, the emotion, that special bond he gets from people that he’s worked with very, very closely."

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