Reacher creator says streaming TV "works so much better" than movies when it comes to book adaptations: "It's addictive for a novelist"

Jack Reacher creator Lee Child is a big fan of Prime Video's adaptation of his own book series, and has recently argued that streaming TV is "more effective" when it comes to adapting literary works to the screen.

With Reacher season 4 starring Alan Ritchson now in the works, Child praised the show, telling The ShortList: "That was the huge attraction, doing the long-form narrative that season-long TV gives you."

"In the books, Reacher is fleshed out," the author continued, "he is a fully rounded character as much as he can be. With light and shade and loud and quiet. In the books, that's obvious, but of course for a short-format adaptation that gets compressed and misses a lot, but we had the time to show it all and that was one of the things that I was most excited about and also makes it all the more effective."

Child said the show, developed by Nick Santora, managed to combine the action with the "quiet parts", which made for a faithful adaptation of the source material.

"My theory is that if you have relentless non-stop pace that's the same thing as having no pace at all. What you need is to show the differences, the quiet parts make the action parts even more effective. And so that was the thrill and the fun of doing a whole season on one story," he explained.

"I think it is addictive for a novelist," Child added. "I can guarantee that if streaming television had been around before, no novelist would ever have chosen anything else, because this works so much better."

The first season of Reacher, based on Child’s 1997 debut novel Killing Floor, premiered in 2022 to wide acclaim from fans and critics. Followed by two equally successful seasons on Prime Video, it has become one of the best action shows airing today, and the expectations for the next chapter are high.

Season 4 will take inspiration from Child's Gone Tomorrow, which sees Reacher roaming the streets of New York in search of a dangerous terrorist, and noticing a suspicious-looking passenger who he thinks may be a suicide bomber. Ritchson teased that this could be "the best season yet" for the show.

Reacher season 4 doesn't have a release date yet. In the meantime, check out our Reacher season 3 review, or have a look through our list of the best shows on Prime Video.