Reacher Creator Reveals Why Neagley's Role in the Series Changed From the Books

Changing the presence of Neagley marks a storytelling necessity for TV.

By Patrick Cavanaugh

One of the biggest changes from the Jack Reacher book series and the Reacher TV show is that, while Alan Ritchson's Reacher maintains the life of a loner, the series sees Maria Sten's Sgt. Frances Neagley playing a more important role in his life, with author Lee Child explaining that it's a necessity to translate the stories from one medium into another. Namely, unless the series wanted to incorporate a voiceover narration that could convey what Reacher was thinking in key moments, the series uses Neagley to help get his inner monologue across, even if this deviates from the source material. Season 3 of Reacher will be based on the novel Persuader.

"Neagley was a strategic decision. The one thing you cannot do on screen that you can in a book is have the inside of somebody's head," Child explained to Empire Magazine. "Reacher thinks a lot, and there are pages and pages of Reacher puzzling things out. You can't write an eight-minute scene with Alan Ritchson sitting there, thinking. So we needed a secondary character to bolster the exposition."

Part of what could have made this shift feel even more drastic is that Season 2 of the series was based on Bad Luck and Trouble, which stands out compared to other books due to its inclusion of more companions than the character normally has, so those unfamiliar with the books might think Reacher will regularly work in a team setting. Fans can understandably expect Neagley to play a part in Season 3, but don't count on seeing the same type of camaraderie as the most recent season.

Another distinct difference between the Reacher series and the source material is that the filmmakers are jumping around the Jack Reacher library, as Bad Luck and Trouble is book 11 while Persuader is book 7.

"There was no reason to do them in order," Child confirmed of the approach to the material. "We had massive discussions about it. The thinking went like this: Killing Floor introduces Reacher as a person. So, which book shows his professional life, and what he did while he was in the Army? The result was Bad Luck and Trouble."

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Given that each season of Reacher sees its popularity grow further, we highly doubt that Season 3 will be the last we'll be seeing of the character, though Prime Video has yet to officially renew the series beyond this upcoming season. Stay tuned for updates on Reacher.

What do you think of the change to Neagley? Let us know in the comments!

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