Greyston Holt, Alan Ritchson, Jasper Jones, Maria Sten
Shane Mahood/Prime
It seems clear that Amazon wants to make seasons of Reacher for as long as possible, with infinite source material, high viewership, and high-profile action star Alan Ritchson. But its effort to fill seasonal gaps with a spinoff is taking a strange turn.
Reacher season 4’s release date is Wednesday, August 12, just over a month from now. Its spinoff, Neagley, focused on Maria Sten’s recurring Reacher ally, had not previously received a release date, even though it seemed like it should air before Reacher season 4. Now, Amazon has announced a date, and it’s a strange choice.
Reacher will do a triple-episode premiere for season 4 on August 12, and then air weekly through September 16. Pretty standard. But on September 16, right after the Reacher finale airs, Amazon will put all eight episodes of Neagley online.
We have seen shows act as lead-ins for new series before, something with big views trying to boost something new. But while Neagley seems like it could use that Reacher boost, airing all eight episodes as a binge drop right at that moment, likely able to be finished by the weekend, is a strange move that seems like it could make the show forgotten about almost immediately unless it makes an enormous impact.
Maria Sten, Greyston Holt
Sabrina Lantos/Prime
I have often compared this Reacher-Neagley idea to the relationship between The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, the latter meant to be an interim series between seasons of the flagship. But Fear did not get TWD as a lead-in, and instead premiered five months later, airing weekly after that. This move would seem to me to suggest a lack of confidence in Neagley, perhaps believing that it would do poorly if it aired 5-6 months from now in between Reacher seasons, standing on its own.
As a fan of Reacher, the idea of a Neagley spinoff has never made much sense to me. The show has tried to shoehorn her into stories she was never a part of in the original book, and I simply don’t think she’s all that compelling of a character, no offense to Sten. Her show sounds like a copy of a Reacher plot we’ve essentially already done (a friend from her past is killed and she tries to uncover the mystery and get justice), except with Neagley instead of Reacher, and I just don’t think the two are remotely comparable characters.
We’ll see if my skepticism is unwarranted and Neagley performs better than I predict. But a binge drop the night of the Reacher finale still seems like it could do more harm than good, especially if the show compares unfavorably to the season that just aired.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.