Amazon Prime's Hit Series Nearly Topples Netflix's Ozark on Streaming Charts
2022 has already brought some buzzworthy shows into the television space, including a number of new projects inspired by beloved properties. Among them is Amazon Prime's new take on the Jack Reacher franchise, which debuted with the first season of Reacher in February of this year. The show soon became a runaway hit, breaking records for Amazon Prime and quickly being renewed for a second season. That performance is definitely being reflected in the most recent Nielsen numbers, with Reacher being the second most-popular streaming show from the week of January 31st and February 6th. The show was streamed for a total of 1.84 billion minutes, only being defeated by Netflix's Ozark's total of 2.37 billion minutes.
Reacher stars Alan Ritchson (Titans, Smallville) as Jack Reacher, a former veteran military police investigator who returns to normal civilian life. However, during his tour of the country, Reacher finds himself framed for a crime he didn't commit, and must work to clear his name while at the same time uncovering a secret conspiracy.
The first season of Reacher is based on Lee Child's Killing Floor novel, the first of his Jack Reacher books. Emmy-nominated writer Nick Santora (Scorpion, Prison Break) pens the first season, and also executive produces and serves as showrunner for the Prime Video series. Other cast members include Malcolm Goodwin (iZombie) as Oscar Finlay, Willa Fitzgerald (The Goldfinch) as Roscoe Conklin, Chris Webster (Most Dangerous Game) as KJ, Hugh Thompson (Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111) as Baker, Maria Sten (Swamp Thing) as Frances Neagley, Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) as Jasper, Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) as Charlie, Currie Graham (Murder in the First) as Kliner Sr., Marc Bendavid (Dark Matter) as Hubble, Willie C. Carpenter (Devious Maids) as Mosley, Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space) as Young Reacher, and Bruce McGill (My Cousin Vinny) as Mayor Teale.
"It's tough. There are 26 [Jack Reacher] books, and then there are short-story anthologies," Santora told TVLine of what the source material could be for Season 2. "And there's so much thought that has to go into our decision. Do we want it to be similar to Season 1, because Season 1 was successful? Do we want to go a little different? There's so much that Lee gives us to choose from."
"The good news is we have Lee Child has an executive producer on this show," the showrunner continued, "and we have other producers on this show – we have Amazon, we have Skydance, we have Paramount – and we will sit and discuss it. But it's a not a problem when you have too much good material to choose from. The problem is when you're staring at an empty space, asking, 'What am I going to write?'"