The following could contain potential story spoilers for Reacher Season 3.

After two films starring Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, the character was reimagined for television. Reacher became an immediate hit for Prime Video, starring Alan Ritchson as a more book-accurate version of the former US Army Criminal Investigation Division leader. As fans are eager to see him back in action, every detail about the forthcoming Reacher Season 3 is important.

Details about the cast, filming and which Lee Child novel is being adapted have been revealed, typically by Ritchson himself. The series typically takes close to a year to go from the end of filming to the release of the episodes, though Amazon hasn't made anything official yet. Still, here is everything that is known about the third season of the hit Prime series.

Reacher Season 3 Will Adapt 'Persuader,' the Seventh Book in Lee Child's Series

The news that Reacher was renewed for Season 3 broke about two weeks before the second season debuted. With nearly 30 books in the series, the show's producers do not have to adapt each book in order. For example, Bad Luck and Trouble was the source for Season 2, despite being the 11th book in Lee Child's series. Ahead of the official announcement, Ritchson dropped some hints on his Instagram, specifically a plate of lobster. This led fans of the series to guess Season 3 of Reacher would adapt the seventh book, Persuader.

In January 2024, Ritchson confirmed Persuader for Reacher Season 3. In this book, Jack Reacher goes undercover as a bodyguard for a criminal being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. He rescues the villain's son and works his way into his confidence, all in the hopes that he could rescue an agent being held captive. Yet, Reacher has his own reasons for taking on the mission, specifically a man named Francis Xavier Quinn who killed and mutilated Dominique Kohl, a woman he served with in the Army. Yet, this may not be the story fans get in Reacher Season 3.

First, with the books being adapted out of order, the stories are bound to change. After all, Reacher Season 2 featured a major change from its source material. In the announcement confirming Persuader was the book being adapted, Ritchson also said Maria Stern would be back as Frances Neagley, who doesn't appear in Persuader. Malcolm Goodwin also reprised his role as Oscar Finlay in Season 2, despite not appearing in Bad Luck and Trouble. While fans know Persuader lays the foundation for Reacher Season 3, things may turn out very differently.

Some Reacher Season 3 Casting News Broke, Including an Even Bigger Villain

Alan Ritchson will, of course, be back as Jack Reacher, and Maria Stern will join him (though perhaps only briefly) reprising her role as Frances Neagley. It's also possible some of Reacher's other surviving former squad will show up, just as Finlay did in Season 2. There will be new faces in the Reacher Season 3 cast, including Ritchson's fellow TMNT alum Brian Tee playing Quinn. Along with Tee, Season 3 will also feature Roberto Montesinos, Daniel David Stewart and Johnny Berchtold playing Richard, the boy Reacher saves to get in good with the villain.

Anthony Michael Hall was cast as the major villain for Reacher Season 3, and from what the actor revealed, it sounds pretty close to his depiction in Persuader. "The character is Zachary Beck, and on the surface, he's like a kingpin of wholesale drug dealing. But the truth is that it's a front; it's a cover for something a little seedier," Hall said in an interview. He also revealed that Reacher and Beck cross paths in the series in much the same way they do in the book. Also, Sonya Cassidy was cast as Susan Duffy, a DEA agent and love interest for Reacher.

The biggest casting challenge for Season 3 was finding Paulie, the antagonist in Persuader who is even bigger than Reacher. Producers found their Paulie in Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters, who appeared in Black Widow and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. His casting was confirmed in a humorous Instagram post where Richters was putting on a sneer and crossing out the name "Reacher" on his trailer. Ritchson stands six-feet-three-inches tall, and Richters is just over seven feet tall.

Reacher Season 3 Has Reportedly Completed Filming Already

According to Ritchson, filming for Reacher Season 3 began shortly before the second season debuted in December 2023 on the streamer. The first season took a little over three months to film in 2021. However, after his experience filming that first season, Reacher Season 2 was given a longer window of time to finish. With all the stunts and fight choreography, it's a matter of safety for the actor. Luckily, outside of the odd explosion, Reacher is not a very visual effects-heavy series. Post-production doesn't take as long as some of Ritchson's other projects like the Max series Titans or his stint as Raphael in the ill-fated live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies.

In a post on Instagram, Ritchson subtly announced the end of filming for Reacher Season 3, at least his bits. "How do you completely transform when you only have a few days to transition from Reacher to your next role in period action piece extraordinaire, [Motor City]? You bring out the big guns," he wrote in the Instagram post, celebrating his nutritional adviser Thomas DeLauer. The video showed him sporting hair extensions and undergoing a dental treatment for "a less pearly set of pearly whites." If filming began in December 2023, and Ritchson just finished work at the end of June, that means the filming window for Reacher Season 3 was a little over seven months.

When Will Reacher Season 3 Debut, and Will There Be a Season 4?

There has been no official announcement about when Reacher Season 3 will be released on Prime Video. However, Ritchson did tell fans to expect to see the hulking hero return sometime in 2025. The first season was released about eight months after filming concluded. Season 2 reportedly finished filming in February 2023, and it didn't debut until ten months later. Thus, it will be at least that long before Reacher returns to Prime Video, meaning fans won't see the Persuader adaptation until sometime in the spring. Also, with Season 2 being such a hit, it's likely that talks (or even pre-production) are underway for a fourth season of the show.

The series star is eager to keep playing the role, though with a specific condition. "I owe it to the audience to explore as many of these books as my body will allow, and I owe it to the people that took a shot on me when I was a huge risk for them. They have given me a real career," Alan Ritchson said about playing Reacher. MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke echoed the sentiment, adding she hoped Ritchson would be physically capable of playing the character for a "very, very, very long time." So, while Reacher Season 4 is almost certainly being thought about, Ritchson is right about his rising star and the demand it places on another limited resource: his time.

I owe it to the audience to explore as many of these books as my body will allow, and I owe it to the people that took a shot on me when I was a huge risk for them. They have given me a real career

In 2024, Ritchson appeared in Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and he's gearing up for another demanding role in Motor City. A devout Christian, Ritchson also lends his star power to faith-based films like Ordinary Angels. While not an official account of his upcoming work by any means, Ritchson's IMDB page lists five other projects in various stages of production. That's not including the sequel series to Blue Mountain State, one of Ritchson's earliest roles.

While it might be tongue-in-cheek, Ritchson says he wants to play Batman in James Gunn's DC Universe. He's no stranger to DC Comics characters, either. He played the first live-action Arthur Curry, i.e. Aquaman, in Smallville. Years later, he played the much lesser-known costumed hero Hawk (of the Hawk and Dove team) on Titans, which first ran on the DC Universe streaming service before shifting to Max. If Ritchson does get to be Batman, or any part of the DCU, it could throw a Reacher-sized wrench into Prime Video's best franchise.

Reacher Seasons 1 and 2 are currently streaming on Prime Video, while Season 3 is expected in early 2025.