Warning: Spoilers ahead for Lee Child’sJack Reachernovels.
This article mentions suicide and rape.
Based on best-selling novelist Lee Child’s character of the same name, Amazon Prime’sReacherfollows the exploits of Jack Reacher, but the show also includes a lot of supporting characters between friends and foes.Reacher’s backstoryis that he is a former major in the U.S. military police who now roams the United States as a perennial drifter. A man who can never stay out of trouble, Reacher encounters new allies and antagonists at every turn.
Jack Reacher has appeared in 29 booksas of 2024. As such, it’s hardly surprising that he has encountered a host of compelling characters throughout his adventures, from loyal allies from his days in the military police to despicable villains of the highest order. As such,there’s a diverse laundry list of characters that need to see appear in Amazon Prime’s Alan Ritchson-led series, with the show having only adapted the events ofKilling FloorandBad Luck and Troubleto date.
10Leon Garber
Appears In Die Trying, Tripwire, The Affair, The Enemy, And Night School
One of the rare characters who appears in multiple Lee Child novels, General Leon Garber is Jack Reacher’s professional mentor and de-facto father figure. He also happens to be the father of Jodie Garber, a New York attorney who is one of the more prominent love interests in the storied romantic history of Child’s drifter.
As such,Garber is one of the more noteworthy characters in Child’sJack Reacheruniverse, given the influential role that he played in Reacher’s military career and his personal life. Accordingly, it would be a criminal oversight in terms of Reacher’s development as a live-action character if his long-standing mentor doesn’t appear in some capacity as the show progresses. While Garber dies of old age in Child’s novels, the fact that he hasn’t been introduced on the show yet could even allow production to introduce a younger, reimagined take on the character.
9Victor “Hook” Hobie / Carl Allen
Appears In Tripwire
2000’sTripwiresees Jack Reacher encounter one of his most memorable bad guys to date, a villain who represents a prime candidate for one ofReacher’sfuture antagonists. A manipulative loan shark who preys upon unsuspecting business owners, Victor “Hook” Hobie is eventually unmasked as Carl Allen, a soldier who assumed the real Hobie’s identity to avoid prosecution after the latter died in a fiery helicopter crash in Vietnam.
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The hook-handed doomsday planner is undoubtedly one of Child’s most notable villains, aided by a prominent role in one of the author’s most adrenaline-soaked offerings to date.Tripwirealso explores the toll that the real Hobie’s deathand Allen’s subsequent assumption of his identity took on his parents, adding another avenue for dramatic exploration in a live-action adaptation. Accordingly, Hook’s failure to make an appearance in a future season would feel like a notable squandered opportunity.
8Svetlana And Lila Hoth
Appear In Gone Tomorrow
The thirteenth installment featuring Reacher,Gone Tomorrowfollows the aftermath of a shocking incident where Reacher witnesses a woman on the New York City Subway inexplicably shoot herself. The 2009 novel chronicles Reacher’s investigation into the cause of her death, a series of events that eventually leads him to Svetlana and Lila Hoth. While the pair are initially friendly to Reacher, he has his suspicions regarding their true identities as a Russian mother and daughter given the mismatch in their physical appearances and mannerisms.
These misgivings prove to be accurate, as the “Hoths” are duly unmasked as seasoned terrorists. Two of Reacher’s most sadistic foes to date, the duo are notorious for brutally torturing and killing their victims with knives on camera; a delightful fate that Lila promises to bestow upon an incandescent Reacher when he discovers their deception. A pair of Child’s most despicable villains, the Hoths would make for worthy adversaries for Alan Ritchson’s live-action take on the character.
7Michelle Chang
Appears In Make Me
One of Jack Reacher’s most harrowing adventures to date, 2015’sMake Mesees the drifter encounter a spider’s web of deceit and subterfuge hidden behind the seemingly unremarkable facade of Mother’s Rest, a quiet Midwestern town. It’s there that he encounters Michelle Chang, a former FBI agent turned private investigator searching for her missing colleague.
Based on
TV series
Bad Luck and Trouble
Persuader
Featuring a sinister organization posing as a euthanasia clinic that actually uses prospective clients in appalling snuff films,Make Meis one of Child’s darkest novels. As such,it’s fortunate that the book features one of Reacher’s most compelling allies Chang.Tenacious, whip-smart, and brave, Michelle is one of the more memorable fleeting love interests that the former military policeman has encountered to date and would be a worthy supporting character to appear shouldReacherchoose to adapt one of Child’s most well-regarded novels in a later season.
6Paulie
Appears In Persuader
Chronicling Reacher’s attempts to track down an adversary from his past, 2003’sPersuadersees the character meet what has contentiously been the toughest test of his physicality. The embodiment of said test, Paulie is a front-runner for the former military policeman’s most formidable adversary to date.A supporting antagonist in the novel’s narrative, Paulie is a colossal bodybuilder who works as a security guard for Reacher’s latest mark, Zachary Beck.
Fortunately for fans of Child’s series, this is one character that has already been confirmed to be appearing in the show. Reacher’s next outing will adopt the events ofPersuader, with hulking bodybuilder “The Dutch Giant” Olivier Richters confirmed to have beencast as Paulie inReacherseason 3. As such, the live-action rendition of one of the most exciting and brutal fight sequences in Child’s novels would appear to be all but assured.
5Susan Turner
Appears In 61 Hours And Never Go Back
WhileCobie Smulders has already brought her version of the character to life in 2016’s Tom Cruise-led feature filmJack Reacher: Never Go Back, Susan Turner’s status as one of the more prominent recurring names in Lee Child’s novels means that a new take on Turner appears inReacher.The current commanding officer of Reacher’s old unit, Turner was initially introduced in 2010’s61 Hoursbefore her prominent character role in2013’sNever Go Backcast.
The closest equivalent to a female version of Reacher sans the goliath physical build and collapsible toothbrush, Turner possesses undeniable chemistry with the former military policeman, a dynamic that would likely serve only to increaseReacher’squality. Regrettably, her character is unlikely to appear imminently givenReacher’sattempts to distance itself from the canon of theTom Cruise-led pair ofJack Reacherfilms.
4Elizabeth Devereaux
Appears In The Affair
The sixteenth novel to feature the character, prequel novelThe Affairis a chronological anomaly in the sense that it takes place before the events ofKilling Floor, the first installment of Lee Child’sJack Reacherseries. Chronicling Reacher’s investigation into the brutal rape and murder of a young woman near an Army Ranger base,The Affairsees the major come into contact with the beautiful and formidable Elizabeth Devereaux as he digs deeper into the crime.
A former Army Ranger with a gritty streak a mile wide, Devereaux serves as one of Reacher’s more memorable sidekicks and love interests throughout this grounded origin story.ReacheradaptingThe Affairinto a future season would provide an excellent opportunity for a detailed look into the formative events that madeAmerica’s answer to James Bondinto the ass-kicking enigma he is today; a state of affairs that would not be complete without the presence of Devereaux.
3Julia Lamarr
Appears In The Visitor
2000’sThe Visitoris the fourth book in Lee Child’sJack Reacherseries of novels, depicting the drifter’s investigation into a slew of murders perpetrated by a mysterious serial killer after he is questioned as a suspect in the case. Striking only against female military members, the killer leaves their victims naked in a bathtub filled with army camouflage paint without a shred of forensic evidence at the scene.
An electrifying race against time sees the killer duly unmasked as FBI agent Julia Lamarr, a purported ally of Reacher in the novel. The duplicitous Lamarr uses her proficiency in hypnotism to coerce her victims into swallowing their tongues, causing their deaths by suffocation and leaving no trace of any murder weapon. One of Reacher’s most sinister and Machiavellian foes, Lamarr would present an intriguing foil for Ritchson’s take on the character. WithReacherrenewed for season 4,The Visitor’sriveting serial killer-centric premise makes it a prime candidate for a future adaptation.
2Beau Borken
Appears In Die Trying
The follow-up to Lee Child’s debut Jack Reacher outingKilling Floor,1998’sDie Tryingsees Reacher go head to head with a radical militia looking to secede from the United States after he is inadvertently caught up in a kidnapping. The kidnap victim is Holly Johnson, later revealed to be none other than the daughter to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the current President’s goddaughter.
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The kidnap is masterminded by one of Child’s most colorful villains Beau Borken, a violent psychopath with delusions of grandeur. The self-appointed leader of the breakaway militia, Borken plans to use Holly as leverage in his wicked plans before Reacher’s arrival throws a spanner into the works.Beau’s abhorrent nature and outlandish backstory make him an exceedingly compelling villain, a sure-fire success story in the making shouldReacherchoose to adapt the events ofDie Trying.
1Jodie Garber
Appears In Tripwire And The Visitor
Contentiously Jack Reacher’s most serious love interest across 29 books, Jodie Garber is the daughter of Reacher’s mentor Leon Garber. A whip-smart attorney with a long-time crush on the enormous drifter who is introduced during the events of 1999’sTripwire,Jodie and Reacher pursue a romantic relationshipuntil she moves to London after receiving a promotion at her law firm in 2000’sThe Visitor.
Considering her role as one of the most prominent and impactful love interests in Lee Child’s novel series, Jodie’s introduction in a later season makes perfect sense. The pair have considerable personal history as a result of Reacher’s relationship with her father and Jodie’s involvement in several adventures, rendering her a leading candidate forReacher’smust-see love interest further down the line.
Reacher
Cast
Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a former military police investigator, as he navigates civilian life. Without a phone and carrying minimal belongings, Reacher drifts across the country, experiencing the nation he once served, and encounters intriguing challenges along the way.
