Spoilers & Everything To Expect With The Plot

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow.

Reacher season 4’s choice of book for adaptation has been officially confirmed, which allows one to speculate on how its story will unfold and which character beats it will include. With its first installment, the Amazon Prime Video detective series played it safe by adapting the first book, Killing Floor, from Lee Child’s Jack Reacher book series. However, with season 2, the show jumped ahead to Bad Luck and Trouble, which serves as the eleventh book in the original series.

Season 3 again broke chronology by picking the seventh novel, Persuader, from the series. With season 4, Reacher is continuing its trend of carefully picking books from the Lee Child series instead of following the original order. The show is able to do this because, even in the original series, every new book unfolds a whole new story. As season 4’s book choice reveals, it will walk through another well-rounded and self-contained Jack Reacher narrative before potentially paving the way for another installment.

Reacher Season 4 Is Based On Lee Child’s “Gone Tomorrow” Book

Gone Tomorrow Is The Thirteenth Book In The Original Novel Series

Before Alan Ritchson made an official announcement about Reacher season 4’s book choice, the show’s Instagram handle disclosed a picture in which season 4’s script could be seen lying on a bench of the New York City MTA subway. Since Lee Child’s thirteenth book, Gone Tomorrow, begins with a gripping sequence that unfolds in the New York City subway, many viewers could not help but speculate that Reacher season 4 will adapt the novel from the series.

Alan Ritchson later posted a picture with a copy of Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow to confirm that the book has been finalized as the choice for Reacher season 4. With the quote from the book in the caption — “The thing about subway cars is you step on one and you never know what’s going to happen.” — Alan Ritchson confirmed that the speculations were right. Adapting Gone Tomorrow is great news for the franchise and its followers because it is often touted as one of the better installments in the original Lee Child novel series.

What Happens In Lee Child’s “Gone Tomorrow” Book

The Book Begins With A Heart-Pounding Sequence

Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow has a compelling opening arc in which Jack Reacher notices a suspicious woman while on the New York City Subway at 2 AM. Putting his military experience to good use, he recalls an eleven-point system used to determine if a woman is a suicide bomber. The further he progresses through the eleven points, the more he realizes that the woman fits almost every single criterion. To his dismay, as soon as he approaches her to help her, she dies by suicide by shooting herself.

With this, trouble finds Jack Reacher again as he sets out to find the truth about the woman’s identity and who she was working for. The NYPD attempts to get him off the case, but Reacher’s guilt drives him to delve deeper into the mystery surrounding the suicide bomber, Susan, who was a Pentagon staffer. Soon after joining forces with NYPD detective Theresa Lee and Susan’s brother, Jacob, Jack Reacher starts realizing that the larger conspiracy at play involves everyone from corrupt government officials to Afghan war veterans.

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The closer he gets to the truth, the more he finds himself at odds with government agents and powerful foreign forces from Ukraine and Afghanistan. He learns that Susan Mark was silenced because she acquired compromising information on a classified Afghanistan mission gone wrong. With his newfound insights, Jack Reacher races against time to punish and serve justice to those who were responsible for the innocent woman’s death before it is too late.

Who Could Be In Reacher Season 4 Based On The “Gone Tomorrow” Book

Neagley Is Not A Part Of The Book But Will Likely Return

Like most books from Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, Gone Tomorrow does not feature any major figures from Reacher’s past. Instead, it adds new players to the mix while drawing little to no references to what Jack Reacher has done in other stories. Other than Jack Reacher, NYPD homicide detective Theresa Lee is portrayed as one of the main heroes. A U.S. Congressman from North Carolina, John Sansom, is also one of the primary characters in the narrative, while the main antagonists are Lila and Svetlana Hoth.

Given how Maria Sten’s Neagley has appeared in every Reacher season so far, it would not be surprising if she played a role in season 4. She was also not supposed to be a part of Reacher season 3 based on the source material’s narrative. However, despite this, the show drifted away from the source material to include her in a relatively smaller capacity. Owing to this, her return seems likely in Reacher season 4. Apart from her, other people from Reacher’s past, like the former members of the 110th Special Investigation Unit, could also show up as minor characters.

Reacher season 2 was not received as well as seasons 1 and 3 because it included too many main characters alongside Jack Reacher. The Alan Ritchson character’s collaboration with his former military allies significantly diminished his appeal as a lone wolf. Season 2’s criticism seemingly prompted the show’s creators to feature another solo mission for Jack Reacher in season 3. By adapting Gone Tomorrow, it looks like the show is sticking to seasons 1 and 3’s storytelling approach, which reduces the odds of the appearance of any familiar characters from Reacher’s past.

What The Upcoming Neagley Spinoff Means For Reacher Season 4

Neagley’s Timeline Will Likely Be Set Right Before Reacher Season 4’s Events

Reacher season 4’s production began only after the Neagley spin-off’s filming had wrapped. This was done because the spin-off show is scheduled to be released before Reacher season 4 on Prime Video. Although nothing has been revealed about Neagley‘s timeline in the overarching franchise, its release schedule suggests it will unfold somewhere between Reacher‘s seasons 3 and 4. A BTS footage also confirmed Jack Reacher’s return in the Neagley spin-off.

Since the show will focus primarily on Maria Sten’s character, Alan Ritchson will likely have a relatively smaller role in its story. However, his involvement suggests that the spin-off’s season 1 will seamlessly transition to Reacher season 4’s narrative. After helping Neagley with one of her cases in Chicago in the spin-off, Jack Reacher might make his way to another city to embrace his love for solo traveling across the United States. On the way, he would encounter the woman on the New York City Subway, triggering the events of Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow.

Reacher

8/10

Release Date

February 3, 2022