Even though Reacher has been doing incredibly well on Prime Video so far, it should consider changing its current approach and leaning more into the adaptation strategy adopted by another great thriller show on the streamer. After three seasons, Reacher boasts an impressive Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 96%.
Like most TV shows, Reacher, too, has experienced a fair share of highs and lows in quality, especially in season 2. However, it remains one of Amazon Prime Video’s most valuable IPs in the action thriller genre and is one of the most defining additions to the streamer’s dad show catalog.
Reacher is set to return to Prime Video with its fourth installment after the release of the Neagley spin-off show. It has also been confirmed that season 4 of the Alan Ritchson series will be based on Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow. After season 4, however, it is hard not to see how Reacher could benefit from a different adaptation approach.
Like Bosch, Reacher Can Consider Adapting Multiple Books In One Season
Reacher‘s ability to consistently land in critics’ good books is impressive. However, before it, Bosch achieved the same for seven seasons straight. The Titus Welliver show experienced absolutely no dips in quality and boasts an almost perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%. What is even more surprising is that Bosch achieved these feats by adopting a completely different storytelling approach than Reacher.
While Reacher has only picked one Jack Reacher book per season, Bosch boldly borrowed story beats from many Michael Connelly novels in each installment and weaved them together into one cohesive narrative. Despite taking many creative liberties and only using its source material as a foundation for its storytelling, Bosch never left viewers disappointed.
Bosch‘s success with this mosaic-style storytelling proves that Reacher, too, might benefit from picking multiple books for one season instead of only adapting one Lee Child novel at a time. Instead of merely unfolding the Alan Ritchson character‘s adventures in one small town, Reacher could walk through a wider array of locations and conflicts in one season.
Although Reacher‘s approach has worked quite well so far, audiences might eventually grow tired of its recurring trope of a lone hero arriving in a new town, solving one major case, and moving on by the season’s end. To keep things refreshing, Reacher could really benefit from incorporating the stories of multiple Lee Child novels in one season.
Adapting Multiple Books Would Come With One Major Risk For Reacher
Since most viewers are already used to Reacher adapting only one book per season and have also learned to appreciate how it sticks to the original book series’ format, a sudden shift in its adaptation approach may not be received too well. Speaking of shifts, even the storytelling pace of the series would suddenly change with the new approach, which might initially seem jarring for fans.
While Neagley’s filming has been wrapped, Reacher season 4’s shooting is reportedly underway.
Unfolding in several locations and featuring a more diverse roster could also significantly increase the show’s budget. All these potential issues make it hard not to believe that, even though Reacher will eventually have to change its storytelling approach, it cannot suddenly emulate Bosch‘s formula. Instead, it will have to slowly evolve and carefully prepare audiences for a broader narrative structure.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
