Entertainment
10 Action Thrillers to Binge While Waiting for New ‘Reacher’ Episodes
The good news for Reacher fans? Season 4 is currently airing, and the show has already been renewed for a fifth season as well. The bad news? You only get one episode per week. That means biting your nails until it’s time for the next episode or waiting until September 16th when the season finale streams and you can binge all eight episodes.
Whatever option you choose, you can fill the holes with plenty of other action thriller shows. Some of these only have a single season, but that’s precisely why they’re perfect to watch between episodes, binge-watching a few episodes per night. A few have multiple seasons, so you can binge away to your heart’s content. In fact, there might even be enough episodes to continue once Reacher Season 4 has ended. Each of these shows will scratch the same itch.
1
‘Tracker’ (2024–Present)
The show that Reacher is most often compared to is Tracker. Both are shows based on books that became TV’s biggest franchises. Both also follow a lone-wolf protagonist who often teams up with others as he moves from place to place, living as a nomad (or hobo, as Reacher says). In Tracker, Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) is a survivalist who takes on private cases to search for missing persons. He gets paid in reward money if he successfully brings them home. Of course, he always does.
Reacher is harder-hitting, more violent, and its protagonist is more threatening, with stakes much higher for each case. But Colter encounters dangerous cases, too. As a network show, Tracker has more of a procedural feel with a different case in every episode versus a main one across an entire season, but this makes it easy to binge. You can watch as many episodes as you want without feeling like the story is unfinished if you decide to abandon it and go back later.
2
‘The Night Agent’ (2023–Present)
Another show featuring a lone-wolf protagonist, Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) is a talented young FBI agent in The Night Agent who lacks the same level of maturity and in-field experience as Reacher (Alan Ritchson). But when he is thrust into a dangerous case in Season 1, he proves his skill, intelligence, and duty to his country and to saving innocent lives, a moral code that’s very much like Reacher’s.
Also like Reacher, The Night Agent gets better with every season, with the action, intensity, cast, and nature of the cases becoming far more compelling each time. The Night Agent is ending after its upcoming fourth and final season, but you’ll easily breeze through the 30 episodes over three seasons to date. The seasons are highly bingeable, with cliffhanger endings that leave you no choice but to play the next episode and keep going all the way to the end.
3
‘Cross’ (2024–Present)
Based on the James Patterson character and books, Cross centers on Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge), a detective and forensic psychologist with a special knack for sussing out and getting under the skin of serial killers. The crime thriller is filled with action in every season as Cross chases down a sadistic killer, racing against the clock before he (or she!) takes their next victim.
Renewed for a third season, there are 16 episodes across two seasons, each telling a story just as compelling as the stories in each season of Reacher. The stakes are high, and the danger is intense. But there’s another element added to the mix. Cross isn’t a lone wolf, but rather a single father trying to balance his work with his personal life. It’s a refreshing change from the loner mentality of Reacher.
4
‘His & Hers’ (2026)
I’m not ashamed to admit that I watched His & Hers over a single weekend. With just six episodes, it’s a bingeable series that takes you through a compelling story in the same amount of time as a movie trilogy. Reacher fans will love the element of mystery and the twists and turns in the case, even if the show doesn’t lean as heavily into the violence, explosions, and conspiracies that are central to every season of Reacher.
Instead, it’s an emotional tale about a former couple who went through a horrible experience. They unexpectedly come back together after years of estrangement when a woman they both know winds up dead in their hometown. Jack (Jon Bernthal) still lives there and works as a detective, while Anna (Tessa Thompson), a former reporter, surprises everyone with her return to cover the investigation. There are plenty of secrets and lots of trauma to unpack, with a twist unlike anything I have seen in a long time.
5
‘Ponies’ (2026)
If you want something female-led that leans more heavily into comedy, Ponies is it. The spy thriller might have been cancelled after its first season, but it has Reacher vibes while adding a throwback setting of 1970s Russia to switch things up. Bea (Emilia Clarke) and Twila (Haley Lu Richardson) are secretaries working at the U.S. embassy who are both suddenly widowed when their husbands perish on a mission. Left with nothing to do and nowhere to go, they offer to help the CIA.
Yes, it’s an unbelievable story. But the idea that these ladies are persons of no interest (“ponies”) who the KGB would never see coming is reflective of the time. At eight episodes long, Ponies takes the story in hilarious, then dramatic, then tense, and hilarious again directions, making it a lighter watch than Reacher, though you still get action-packed scenes, explosions, chases, and a fabulous villain in Artjom Gilz‘s Andrei Vasiliev. It’s Clarke and Richardson, however, who truly shine. They’re no Neagley (Maria Sten), but even Jack Reacher’s closest confidante would probably at least give these ladies some credit for their sloppy but effective work.
6
‘The Boroughs’ (2026)
Another prematurely cancelled show, The Boroughs doesn’t have nearly as much action as Reacher, considering the main characters are all people in their 70s living in a retirement community. But there is an intriguing case to investigate and some epic fight and action scenes, including one that pays homage to Thelma & Louise (yes, with Geena Davis herself).
As one of the best sci-fi series of 2026 so far, The Boroughs leans more into sci-fi than action, but it’s a perfect watch for Reacher fans. You will enjoy the character development, the similarly surly and intensely smart protagonist, Sam (Alfred Molina), who eventually warms to his new neighbors, and the mix of sarcasm and comedy with thrills.
7
‘I Will Find You’ (2026)
Reacher and David Burroughs (Sam Worthington) from I Will Find You actually have a lot in common. In Season 1 of Reacher, Jack is accused of the murder of a victim who turns out to be his own brother. He then makes it his mission to take down the real killer. In I Will Find You, David is convicted and sent to jail for murdering his son. The only problem? Much like Reacher, he didn’t do it. He has one person in his corner, his former sister-in-law Rachel (Britt Lower), who believes him when she comes across a random photo with a young boy in the background who looks strikingly like her nephew would at this age (a distinct facial birthmark makes the identity unmistakable).
The pair, with the help of powerful friends and family members, go on the run trying to find the boy and figure out what really happened that fateful night and why. With a massive twist in the end that you might not see coming, I Will Find You is arguably one of Harlan Coben‘s most talked-about shows. Climbing up the Netflix charts, the show has become a huge success this year, and you’ll easily binge your way through the eight episodes in no time.
8
‘Man on Fire’ (2026)
This action thriller series, loosely based on the 1980 novel by A.J. Quinnell, as was the 2004 movie, is the perfect Reacher replacement. The show stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as John Creasy, an ex-mercenary who, like Reacher, once worked for the military. He’s also out to avenge the deaths of former members of his team, as was the plot in Reacher Season 2.
With plenty of action and fight scenes, Man on Fire gives you Reacher vibes to a tee. Plus, with just seven episodes, it’s an easy binge-watch that will get your juices flowing for the new episodes of Reacher. Both have fierce protagonists with personal trauma and a vendetta to take down any bad guys who come their way.
9
‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’ (2026–Present)
Tatiana Maslany and Murray Bartlett are wonderful in this Apple TV comedy-thriller crime series. In Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, Maslany is Paula, a recently divorced single mom who finds solace in talking to a cam boy. But when she believes she witnesses his murder on camera and learns she was being scammed, she can’t help but get to the bottom of things.
Paula goes down a wild rabbit hole, uncovering danger, conspiracies, and a situation that’s far more complex than she expected. While Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed isn’t as conventionally action-packed as Reacher, it’s highly entertaining and suspenseful. There are 10 short episodes you can power through over a weekend, or week to week while waiting for new episodes of Reacher.
10
‘Ride or Die’ (2026)
If Neagley is your favorite character in Reacher and you can’t wait for her spin-off to premiere later this year, Ride or Die will provide that female power you crave. Hannah Waddingham is Judith, a secret assassin who winds up on a wild journey with her best friend Debbie (Octavia Spencer), who just so happens to be the wife of a member of Parliament.
Ride or Die, one of the best Prime Video shows of 2026 so far, has the same frantic energy as Reacher as the pair go on the run from an enemy while Judith hides her true identity. With eight episodes in the series, you’ll enjoy every moment of the show that Collider reviewer Meredith Loftus praises for its mix of action, thrills, and heartwarming friendship.
Reacher
- Release Date
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February 3, 2022
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Nick Santora
- Directors
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Omar Madha, Carol Banker, Julian Holmes, Lin Oeding, M.J. Bassett, Norberto Barba, Stephen Surjik, Thomas Vincent
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