7 Must-See Shows If You Loved Reacher

Jack Reacher is big, literally and figuratively. Not only is the titular character of Prime Video’s Reacher very tall — 6’5″ according to Lee Child’s books, 6’3″ on TV thanks to series star Alan Ritchson — but his show is also big, winning a Season 4 renewal before season three even aired. Reacher himself is an unusual character; brains as well as brawn, in a world where characters often have to choose one or the other. Reacher is also hyper-violent, action-packed, and often, very funny. Led by Ritchson, the show has an unbelievable sense of ‘cool,’ with an undercurrent of boiling rage. It’s also a thriller, which is exciting for TV; thrillers don’t always work on television due to the nature of the medium, and when they do, they’re often miniseries. But Reacher has a lot of book material it can mine for content.

Reacher Season 3 just wrapped, and the wait for Season 4 is on. Here are seven shows to watch in the vein of Reacher: some came before it, others alongside it, but they’re all thrill rides.

The Fugitive

While most of us love the film The Fugitive, Dr. Richard Kimble’s origins as a character actually date back to the TV show of the same name: it aired from 1963-1967, and featured many of the same elements that were in the 1993 film, capturing 60s audiences so much that while the last two seasons weren’t as popular, the series finale is still one of the most watched episodes of TV of all time. Every episode of the show featured David Janssen as Kimble, and the character of Sam Gerard popped up too (and was credited in every episode, even when he didn’t appear). Instead of just tracking Kimble across the Chicago metropolitan area, Gerard and the show followed Kimble around the country.

It might be slower than Reacher is, and not nearly as stylish, but it’s a gem of television history which opened up the lane Reacher now runs in.

The Fugitive can be streamed on Pluto TV.

24

24‘s legacy can be seen everywhere these days: The Pitt has borrowed its hour-by-hour format; Jack Ryan on Prime took a decidedly more Jack Bauer approach to the originally nerdy analyst, and all TV after 24 has been informed by what it did for serialized storytelling on network TV. Still, 24 might feel like somewhat of a leap from Reacher; Jack Bauer is definitely not as intimidating at first glance as Jack Reacher, and Reacher is also probably one of the smarter characters in the ‘semi-retired badass’ class.

24 still reminds me of Reacher, anyway: they both have a supporting cast of really interesting character actors; they both do love a violent scene; and each season of 24 told a unique story… kind of like how Reacher adapts one book for each season. If you haven’t seen 24, you probably should; while one season is enough to get the vibe, two seasons are better than one. Just don’t watch Season 6, if you get that far.

24 is streaming in its entirety on Hulu.

Patriot

Patriot was a short-lived spy thriller dark comedy from Prime Video’s early days. As in, its pilot was released in 2015, Amazon gave it a chance to find an audience, then they greenlit the rest of the first season, which wouldn’t air until February 2017. It somehow got a second season, which came out over a year later, and then it was toast.

Amazon’s whole release strategy back then seemed like a gauntlet, but Patriot was kind of like a bizarre nightmare of a show: a deeply troubled intelligence officer (Michael Dorman) is tasked with going undercover, but non-officially, mostly at the behest of his Intelligence director father (Terry O’Quinn). The cold open of the show will probably hook you immediately, or at the very least have you interested in what John Tavner will possibly do next.

Patriot‘s two seasons are streaming on Prime Video.

Turn: Washington’s Spies

Ah, the era when AMC was trying to choose between its dueling futures: on one hand, prestige historical dramas with a bite (like Mad Men), and morally murky, contemporary thrillers with a bark (like Breaking Bad). Turn: Washington’s Spies wouldn’t bridge that gap until around Season 2, but once it does, it is a wild ride through the Revolutionary War period.

It helps that most of its titular spies are not, in fact, intelligence officers: they’re soldiers, innkeepers, farmers, students, maids… so it lacks the high-minded nature around intelligence work that a lot of more contemporary series seem to operate off of (like Homeland, for example). While Reacher isn’t exactly a regular Joe, he has more in common with George Washington’s ragtag band of Culper Ring misfits than with a lot of other TV characters who happen to be former government employees. Turn can be very funny (at times) and also heartbreaking: it has no desire to paint the Revolutionary War as anything but a bloody, frightening affair, for the good guys and the ‘bad’ guys.

Turn: Washington’s Spies can be streamed on Philo and The Roku Channel.

Alex Rider

Hear me out! Yes, Alex Rider was a YA book series from legendary British author Anthony Horowitz. It was classified as a YA book series because it had a 14-year-old protagonist, but it definitely wasn’t YA-level reading material. And if it was at points, it was only because it started out with a younger audience, and the material matured along with them.

The books were always a thrill ride and reading them always felt a bit edgy as a pre-teen. They were adapted into a very meh movie in 2006, and it bombed, so the series was forgotten for over a decade. It managed to claw its way back through a long development process, and Amazon eventually acquired the first season, based on the second book, and would greenlight two more. It’s not a kids’ show in any way: it’s a thrill ride anyone could enjoy. Alex Rider might be much younger than Reacher, but he might very well be on a similar path (what do you do as an adult if you’re a spy by age fourteen, exactly?).

Alex Rider can be streamed on Prime Video.

Tokyo Vice

Many prestige TV shows have visual tones set by their pilot’s director, who is usually a famed film director: Tokyo Vice had Michael Mann (who also directed short-lived drama Luck‘s pilot and who actually got his proper start in TV as a writer-director). Reacher… didn’t have that, but its slick style with an unlikely hero lead reminds me of many a Mann film, so…

Tokyo Vice is an adaptation and mostly fictionalized retelling of journalist Jake Adelstein’s time working for a Japanese newspaper. Adelstein is played by Ansel Elgort, and he’s supported by Ken Watanabe as a veteran organized crime detective. Tokyo Vice got two seasons before being cancelled, for it lived on Max, and survival there is often very hard. It did get good reviews, though, and it’s worth a watch.

Tokyo Vice is streaming on Max.

FUBAR

How does Reacher showrunner Nick Santora spend his time in between seasons of Reacher? Apparently, by convincing Arnold Schwarzenegger to do a TV show. FUBAR did not get the best reviews for its debut season, but apparently it did get good numbers, because Netflix gave it a second season, which is already in the can. It’s coming back this June, and while it may not have the brains of Reacher, did we ever go to Arnold movies for brains? No, we did not. It does have heart, a rising co-star in Monica Barbaro, and Season 2 apparently has Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix)! FUBAR’s old-school action credentials are certainly there.

FUBAR streams on Netflix, with its second season debuting on June 12th.

Are there any other shows you’d recommend to someone looking for more Reacher? Let us know in the comments.