Reacher was always going to be a hit. Lee Child’s novels have sold over 100 million copies. The fanbase was already there, already loud, already waiting. What none of us predicted was just how good it would feel on screen. Alan Ritchson doesn’t just play Jack Reacher, he is Jack Reacher. You genuinely can’t imagine anyone else playing the role. His performance is physical, funny, and quietly terrifying all at once.
Amazon Prime Video gave Reacher room to breathe, kept the pulpy soul of Lee Child’s source material intact, and trusted that audiences would show up for a big, confident, and entertaining action thriller. They were right. Reacher Season 1 like a freight train, Season 2 kept millions of viewers locked in despite spreading itself a little thin, and Season 3 has turned this thing into one of the streamer’s most reliable, most rewatchable action properties.
Reacher is a genuinely great show. That part isn’t up for debate. But here’s what it did beyond being great: it proved that Prime Video is serious about the action-thriller genre. And if Reacher is the show that sent you digging through their catalog, you’ll be pleased to hear that the streaming service has other TV shows that are genuinely better than Reacher. Some came before it, some arrived in its wake, some tighter in places and darker in others, but all of them no less gripping.
‘Invincible’ (2021 – Present)
There’s a version of Invincible that could have been just another animated superhero romp with bright colors, familiar archetypes, and fast-moving origin stories. However, Amazon took one look at Robert Kirkman’s source material and decided to go in another direction entirely. Invincible follows Mark Grayson, a regular teenager whose biggest problem should be school and relationships, except his father happens to be the world’s most powerful superhero.
The early episodes of Invincible intentionally comfort you, letting the world feel real and almost conventional, before detonating one of the most shocking twists in modern TV. You realize that the show isn’t a show about a kid learning to fly. It’s a show about inherited violence, legacy, and what it means to become someone your parents shaped you to be. J.K. Simmons voices Omni-Man with the kind of warmth that makes the character’s contradictions worth rooting for, and the fight sequences are brutal. Overall, Reacher is satisfying, but Invincible is devastating.
‘The Boys’ (2019 – Present)
If Reacher is about a lone man dismantling corruption, The Boys is about a ragtag group dismantling superheroes who have become the corruption. Since its debut in 2019, the series has carved out a reputation for being outrageous, violent, and satirical. But beyond the shock value lies an excellent thriller framework made of corporate conspiracies, walking PR nightmares, covert missions, and moral ambiguity.
The show also thrives on its unpredictability. Just when you think you know where it’s going, an episode comes along that is both horrifying and hilarious. Antony Starr is the reason this show exists at the level it does, and he’s supported by Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Erin Moriarty, Jensen Ackles, and more. The action is nasty, inventive, and almost always shocking, but The Boys knows when to push too far and when to pull back just enough to make the next hit hurt worse.
‘The Night Manager’ (2016 – Present)
Before Tom Hiddleston was everywhere, there was The Night Manager, a six-episode BBC/AMC co-production that arrived in 2016 and immediately made the case that TV could do le Carré better than cinema ever managed. Based on John le Carré’s 1993 novel, this anti-Bond TV series centers on Jonathan Pine, a former soldier turned night manager who is recruited by British intelligence to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie).
The plot is so measured, tense, and controlled that you feel like you’re watching a chess match. Every conversation feels loaded, and every silence is intentional. The cinematography and locations, from Cairo to Mallorca, add a sophisticated feel and make the danger feel more elegant and claustrophobic. Additionally, Olivia Colman, in a supporting role as a determined intelligence officer, is brilliant and deserved more screen time than she got.
‘Cross’ (2024 – Present)
Prime Video’s Cross brings James Patterson’s iconic detective Alex Cross (a character who has existed in two feature films and decades of bestselling fiction) to life in a way that’s both modern and faithful. Aldis Hodge steps into the role, portraying a forensic psychologist who chases killers by dissecting their minds. Season 1 opens with a politically charged murder in Washington, D.C., and spirals into a series of cases that test Cross’s ability to balance his personal and professional life.
It’s an action-thriller, yes, but it focuses on character-driven suspense. Cross is grieving, observant, and methodical, and the show gives him space to be all three. Hodge carries that weight in every scene without ever making it feel performative. The cases are gripping, the pacing is confident, and the show has a visual language that feels cinematic. Reacher has been around for a while, and it’s early days for Cross, but the foundation is exceptionally strong.
‘The Terminal List’ (2022 – Present)
Not many shows arrived in 2022 with more noise around them than The Terminal List. Chris Pratt starring in a Jack Carr adaptation? Produced and co-written by the author himself? It’s obvious that the built-in audience was enormous, but the critical reception, to put it mildly… was divisive. None of that matters now, because the viewership numbers told the real story. The Terminal List became one of the most-watched series in Prime Video history within weeks of release, and here’s why.
Pratt plays James Reece, a Navy SEAL commander whose life unravels after his platoon is ambushed, and his family is targeted. The show is grim, but it’s also relentless. It’s not a story about a hero who wins a clean battle. Reece suffers major losses, and the show doesn’t soften them. Instead, it tightens the screws on his psyche and pulls us deeper into understanding whether his war is truly with the people around him or himself. Where Reacher gives you the fantasy of total competence, The Terminal List is harder and more honest.
‘Bosch’ (2014 – 2021)
Seven seasons. Three spin-offs. That’s what Bosch quietly built over the course of its run on Amazon Prime, becoming one of the most consistent shows in the history of the genre. Based on Michael Connelly’s beloved Harry Bosch novels, it follows a Los Angeles homicide detective who is simultaneously one of the best investigators in the LAPD and incapable of operating within the rules of the system.
Bosch arrived in 2014 when TV was still largely centered on antiheroes doing wild damage and being adored for it. Bosch did something almost countercultural. The gripping series gave us a genuinely good man trying to do genuinely good work inside a deeply imperfect institution. This authenticity, paired with Titus Welliver’s performance, doubles down over time, resulting in an action-thriller that is simply too good to ignore.
‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’ (2018 – 2023)
The Jack Ryan franchise has been around for so long that it has its own generational fanbase. Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine each played the action hero and delivered a different kind of leading man. They each defined a different cultural moment as well. When John Krasinski stepped into the role for Prime Video’s series adaptation, the expectation was that he’d be the affable, relatable version of the everyman analyst who stumbles into danger.
Instead, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan delivered something much more interesting. We got a truly capable, morally grounded intelligence officer navigating a post-9/11 geopolitical landscape with the kind of authenticity and pacing that movies never had the patience for. It ran for four seasons and took us across Yemen, Russia, and Nigeria, but the ambition never wavered. It was a globe-trotting, politically engaging, expensive-looking adventure that gave the character a proper sendoff, and we’re all here for it.
So… which action thriller are you going to watch tonight?
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
