Amazon has announced the Lee Child book that will form the basis of Reacher season 3, and it shows promising signs for the series’ future.

Alan Ritchson on the poster for Reacher season 2

SUMMARY

 Reacher season 3 will be based on the seventh book in Lee Child’s series, Persuader, indicating a promising future for the show.
 Amazon’s decision to adapt books out of order suggests that the other missing stories from the series could still be turned into future seasons.
 The standalone nature of Child’s books allows Amazon to freely choose which stories to adapt for each season, without needing to follow a specific chronology.

Amazon has revealed which book from Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series will form the basis of Reacher season 3 – and it’s a promising sign for the show’s future.

Reacher follows the adventures of a former U.S. Army Military Police Major as he drifts from town to town in search of crimes to solve. Alan Ritchson plays the titular vigilante, who’s essentially Batman without a mask. The series is two seasons in and still going strong, with a third installment on the way.

The first season of Reacher was adapted from the first novel in Child’s series, Killing Floor. The second season skipped ahead to adapt the 11th book in the series, Bad Luck and Trouble.

This choice had some fans concerned that the nine books in between Killing Floor and Bad Luck and Trouble would never get the TV treatment. However, those concerns have been squashed by Amazon’s recent announcement of which book season 3 will be based on. Those other nine books might see the light of day after all.

Amazon’s Reacher TV Timeline Is Going Backwards

Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher in Reacher season 2

Amazon has announced that Reacher season 3 will be based on Persuader, the seventh book in Child’s series. Persuader sees Reacher teaming up with the DEA (in an unofficial capacity) to bring down a notorious drug smuggler and save an undercover DEA agent.

Unlike Bad Luck and Trouble, Persuader is written in the first person. The novel was well-received by critics for its gripping plot and exciting action scenes, which will surely translate to the screen as a thrilling season of television.

Since season 2 adapted the 11th book and season 3 is adapting the seventh book, it’s clear that Amazon isn’t too concerned about maintaining the continuity of the novels.

This means that the other eight missing stories that were skipped in the nine-book jump from season 1 to season 2 could still eventually get turned into seasons of the show. If the writers of the TV show want to make a season out of Tripwire or The Visitor or Without Fail, then they’re free to do so.

Reacher Telling Lee Child’s Book Stories Out Of Order Makes Sense

Alan Ritchson as Reacher sitting on the bus and staring out the window

Child’s Jack Reacher books don’t really follow a specific chronology – each one is a more or less standalone adventure-of-the-week narrative – so it makes sense for Amazon to pick and choose stories that would work for a specific season.

They don’t need to go in order; they can just select which book they want to adapt every time they start a new season. After turning Persuader into Reacher season 3, Amazon could go backwards or forwards in the book series and it wouldn’t matter.