There are still plenty of stories waiting for Alan Ritchson if Prime Video’s Reacher keeps Jack Reacher wandering into trouble for years to come. The series has never been tied to adapting Lee Child’s novels chronologically, either, leaving more than two decades of stories sitting on the shelf whenever the writers start looking for their next adventure. Child already has one he’d particularly like to see. Speaking exclusively with Collider about which novels could work for future seasons, the author singled out one of his best novels as a story he’d be keen to see Ritchson tackle.
The Midnight Line, the 22nd novel in the series, immediately came to mind when Child was asked which stories he’d like to see come to life in the television series. His reasoning has considerably more to do with the story’s emotional core than finding another opportunity for Reacher to break some bones. Child also pointed out that Ritchson’s reputation as being extremely socially and politically aware was another reason why the book would both be a good fit for the series and for him as an actor and as a person. He told Collider:
“The Midnight Line I would like to see, because that’s a very compassionate story in terms of the addict. That was my feeling about it, because the Oxy thing shows up in all kinds of crime fiction, but the actual victim, the actual addict, is always just a cipher. The addict is never really there, other than maybe you’ll follow them to the dealer’s house for a clue, but the story of the addict is never there. I wanted to present it from the addict’s point of view, trying to make it sympathetic and understandable. I’m not surprised Alan likes that because he has a social conscience. He’s aware, and that Oxy addiction is a terrible thing.”
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
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Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
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🚀Star Wars
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01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
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02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
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03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
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04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
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05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
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06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
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07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
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08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
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Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
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The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
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The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
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Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
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Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
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A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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What Is ‘The Midnight Line’ About?
Published in 2017, The Midnight Line begins with one of those beautifully simple Reacher premises that inevitably becomes much bigger. Reacher spots a West Point class ring in the window of a Wisconsin pawn shop. Knowing how difficult earning one would have been, he can’t understand why its owner would willingly give it up, so he decides to find her. That decision leads Reacher to Serena Rose Sanderson, a former Army officer whose life has been devastated by injuries and opioid addiction but, rather than treating addiction as another piece of criminal-world scenery, Child deliberately wanted the novel to focus on the person living through it.
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During his conversation with Collider, he recalled seeing how easily legitimate injuries could lead people toward dependency in Wyoming. “I have a place in Wyoming where there’s a lot of horse people, rodeo riders and so on, who are always banged up and injured,” said Child, “and the doctors would be just handing out oxycodone like candy and producing massive addiction problems.” The Midnight Line would present an interesting change of pace for the television series. Reacher is still Reacher, and trouble inevitably finds him, but the story gives him a problem that can’t simply be punched away. Child also noted that Ritchson himself has talked about wanting to tackle The Midnight Line. If Reacher keeps running long enough, both Richson and Child already seem to agree on at least one destination they’d like the big guy to visit.
Reacher is streaming on Prime Video. Lee Child was speaking exclusively to Collider in support of Chain Reaction, the latest Jack Reacher novel, which arrives October 20. Child will also co-write Zero Margin, the first Frances Neagley novel, with Yasmin Angoe, arriving in spring 2027. Sign up for a free trial of Audible to listen to the Reacher novels and more.
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Release Date
February 3, 2022
Network
Prime Video
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Showrunner
Nick Santora
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Directors
Omar Madha, Carol Banker, Julian Holmes, Lin Oeding, M.J. Bassett, Norberto Barba, Stephen Surjik, Thomas Vincent
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