Reacher Season 3 Leaves Out One of the Biggest Characters From the Book (But It’s For the Best)

The third season of Reacher is finally here, with the first three episodes of the new installment dropping on Prime Video this past Thursday. There has been a ton of hype surrounding the release of these new episodes, due in part to the fact that Season 3 is based on Lee Child’s novel Persuader — without a doubt one of the most beloved and acclaimed entries in the entire Jack Reacher book series.

The premiere episode kicked off with a very long scene that was taken almost beat-for-beat from Persuader, setting up a whole season that could follow the book to the letter. However, soon after that opening scene, Reacher revealed what is easily the biggest change from the book to the screen — the show is missing one of the most prominent characters in the entire book.

In Persuader, Reacher stages a rescue of Richard Beck, the college-aged son of potential criminal kingpin Zachary Beck, in order to get in close with his father and track down a dangerous associate. Once Reacher infiltrates Beck’s home and begins living there as a member of the security team, he gets to know Richard’s mother, Elizabeth. She’s also a victim of the entire operation, forced to live a reclusive life and often abused by Paulie, a terrifying employee of Beck’s employer who lives on the property.

It’s actually Elizabeth who figures out Reacher is undercover. Instead of taking the information to her husband, she confronts Reacher, and essentially asks for his help in putting a stop to the whole operation. They gain each other’s trust throughout the book and sometimes work together to further the case, even though Elizabeth is conflicted about her husband’s role in everything.

In Season 3 of Reacher, the story is largely the same, except Elizabeth is completely omitted. It’s revealed early on that Richard’s mother died well before the events of the series, so a large part of her journey in the book will likely fall to Richard, essentially combining two characters into one for the show.

As great a character as Elizabeth is in Persuader, leaving her out of the Reacher series may actually be for the best. Richard is perfectly capable of taking on her role as an ally to Reacher, and the absence of Elizabeth could actually help solve one of the biggest issues of the book.

There’s a plot thread in Persuader about the relationship between Zachary and Richard, one that hints that Zachary wants to be a better man and better father than he’s been able to be since his business was roped into its current operation. There are moments that paint Zachary as a victim as well — having been threatened into a position he didn’t want to be in — and that his son has always been the most important element of his life.

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Those moments are few and far between, however, preventing the idea from delivering its intended emotional impact. It gets pushed to the background and it’s difficult to really care about the Zachary/Richard relationship. By removing Elizabeth, the show creates the opportunity for that father-son dynamic to be at the forefront, and for Richard to be the one directly wrestling with Zachary’s mistakes. The spotlight is forced to shift to what should have always been one of the most intriguing elements of the story all along.

We’ll have to wait and see how things play out over the course of Season 3, but allowing real time to explore Richard and Zachary’s bond is easily one of the best choices the Reacher creative team could’ve made when adapting Persuader. Elizabeth is an unfortunate casualty in the equation, there’s no doubt about that. But when it’s all said and done, her omission might be for the best.

The first three episodes of Reacher Season 3 are now streaming on Prime Video.