Directed by Jeff Bosley, Steve Hart. With Jeff Bosley, David Proffitt, Bannon Anderson, Austin Bosley. The first book in the phenomenal bestselling series, Killing Floor introduces Reacher as the tough ex-military cop with no fixed address. Trained to think fast and act faster, he is.

Although fans had become accustomed to seeing Tom Cruise in action as agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible movies, the actor took another action role detour from that franchise for the refreshing Jack Reacher. The first film debuted in 2012 and was based on the character book series from author Lee Childs. Reacher is a former Military Police Officer who chooses to wander the U.S. while taking on odd jobs and dangerous investigations.

The first Reacher film, based on Lee's One Shot novel, did well enough to warrant a sequel. But 2016's Jack Reacher: Never Go Back stands as the end of Reacher as far as film goes. Childs told Deadline in 2018 that Reacher's next onscreen adventures would happen on the small screen instead of the big one, and that the role of Reacher would be recast.

That might seem like a shame to Cruise fans, but it makes sense given the mixed responseJack Reacher: Never Go Back received. The film's plot threw out a lot of twists to audiences much like the novel it's based on. If you found yourself a bit confused by the ending, here's a bit of a refresher to catch you up before the Jack Reacher TV series arrives.

Track Jack Reacher new episodes, see when is the next episode air date, series schedule, trailer, countdown, calendar and more. TV show guide for Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher gets off a bus in a small town in Georgia. And is thrown into the county jail, for a murder he didn’t commit. Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1) Buy book. Penguin Random House. Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2) Reacher is locked in a van with a woman claiming to be FBI. And ferried right across America into a brand new country.

Does Reacher become a fugitive and father?

In Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Reacher becomes embroiled in a major military conspiracy. His cohort, Major Susan Turner, is framed for murder by a major military weapons contractor called Parasource. Soon Reacher is, too. Reacher and Turner spend a lot of time avoiding the contractor's assassins, headed by the dangerous figure known as The Hunter. Reacher is also forced to deal with the prospect of potentially being a father, thanks to a paternity suit against him. His alleged daughter Samantha figures out when Reacher shadows her at some point, and has a knack for sneaking cell phones and stealing credit cards. Her actions keep everyone guessing if she really could be his daughter.

With Reacher, Turner, and Sam together on the run for much of the film, the conclusion answers all burning questions. For one, the major conspiracy Parasource framed Reacher and Turner to cover is revealed: the company was selling weapons to insurgents and smuggling opium into the United States. Reacher and The Hunter have a climactic hand-to-hand battle via rooftop that leaves the Reacher's assassin defeated with a broken neck. And it turns out that Reacher isn't really the father of Sam, as her biological mother doesn't even recognize him.

Before the credits roll, the bad guys are arrested, Turner returns to her job, and Reacher is hitchhiking to his next adventure.

There will be no Jack Reacher 3

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back was adapted from Lee's 18th Reacher novel, Never Go Back. And most of the major plot points in the novel were the same as its adaptation. However while publications like The New York Times reviewed Lee's original novel as 'well-plotted,' the film adaptation's plot was heavily criticized. Many critical takes, like from the Hollywood Reporter, complained that it's plot was too formulaic. Perhaps the reason for this difference is that at 466 pages, Never Go Back's twist and turns had more breathing room for an audience to navigate. The film adaptation condenses a lot. In any case, the mixed reception to the film sequel threw a wrench into plans for an immediate Jack Reacher 3.

However, last year during a podcast interview in Empire Magazine, director Christopher McQuarrie revealed that had the film series continued, it would have gone for an R-rated experience that leaned more into the books' gritty and brutal vibes. The director hinted that while that might not happen for Reacher as a film now, he and Tom Cruise still plan to take on a darker action thriller project.

'It's a very un-Tom character, and we have plans for an even more un-Tom character that we've been talking about, which I'm hopeful about in the future,' McQuarrie said. 'The franchise has moved on, and we haven't. So we've now got stuff in the hopper. The [Jack Reacher] stuff we're talking about now is tinker toys [compared to it], I'm actually very, very excited.'

As for Reacher, the series will find new life as a rebooted Amazon Prime series that, according to BlogTO, will star actor Alan Ritchson. Amazon's show has already begun filming in Toronto.

In 2012, Tom Cruise's first Jack Reacher film earned $218 million at the worldwide box office, and seemed poised to launch the actor's next successful franchise. But after a disappointing 2016 follow-up Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, the film series stalled. However, had it moved forward, Jack Reacher 3 would have been a totally different film compared to its predecessors, and one that would have been more faithful to Lee Child's successful book series, on which the films are based.

So far, Child has written 25 books (including prequels and spinoffs) involving the ex-Army investigator Jack Reacher, who never seems to fail at finding a twisted conspiracy to unravel. In the books, the hulking 6' 5” and 250 lb. action hero is just as quick to use his fists as he is to use his mind to solve a problem, which often leads to some decidedly R-rated reading material.

But when it came time to adapt the books for the big screen, Hollywood opted for a toned down, PG-13 version of the character, which is something director Christopher McQuarrie had hoped to rectify in a third Jack Reacher film before it became clear that one would never come to fruition.

During a July 2020 interview with Empire, McQuarrie revealed that he and Cruise had hoped the third film in the franchise could transition into darker territory. 'Tom and I were talking about, had the series continued, to take Reacher to a place where, in the post-Deadpool, post-Joker world, Reacher could have been an R-rated movie and an R-rated franchise and really fed into the brutality of those books. We were fully ready to lean into that.'

Author Lee Child is reportedly the reason why Jack Reacher 3 never happened

Despite McQuarrie and Cruise's big plans to adhere more closely to the books in a third film, Child opted to take his character's live-action future in a different direction — one that would include an actor who more accurately matched the physical description of Reacher. In a wide-ranging November 2019 interview with The Sunday Times, Child opened up about why it was time for Cruise to hang up Reacher's boots and let someone else have a go at playing the famed ex-military man.

The author revealed that he had a clause in his contract which would allow him to end the film franchise after just two movies, and he told The Sunday Times that he opted to exercise it after the release of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. 'Cruise was reluctant. He had his own investment in it, he was gonna argue against it,' he said. 'It sounds extremely patronizing but I think it's good for him. He's too old for this stuff. He's 57, he needs to move on, transition to being a character actor. He could get another 20 years out of it. He has the talent. He's a terrific guy, very considerate, good fun.'

In addition to his age, Cruise is also small in stature. The now 58-year-old is just 5' 7” tall, which is a far cry from the larger than life figure Reacher strikes in the books. Still, Cruise is a hands on action movie star who does his own stunts and is heavily involved on the creative side of his films, so what he lacked in size, he surely made up for in passion where the Jack Reacher franchise is concerned.

An R-rated Jack Reacher is still happening, just not on the big screen

Next Jack Reacher Movie Release

While the Jack Reacher movies appear to be over for now, the character is getting a small screen reboot courtesy of Amazon Studios. The streamer has ordered a new series based on the books, which is set to begin filming in Toronto in April 2021, according to BlogTO. Unlike the films, the show will star an actor who matches up with Child's descriptions in the books perfectly: The 6' 4” Titans star Alan Ritchson.

Next Jack Reacher Movie

At this stage, not much is known about the Amazon series, aside from the fact that it has Child's stamp of approval. When the news of the series was first announced in January 2020, the author issued a statement, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, that read, 'It's been great so far, but really, the fun starts here. By now I know these guys, and Reacher is in the perfect hands, believe me.'

Season 1 of Jack Reacher is set to focus on the first book in the long-running series, The Killing Floor. In the book, Reacher visits a small town in Georgia to investigate a cold case, but he quickly ends up being arrested himself. It's a dark introduction to the character's world that's full of action sequences that are sure to finally give readers the R-rated Reacher action they crave — just minus Cruise and director McQuarrie.