After ‘Reacher’s Season 4 Finale, Start Binging Prime Video’s Stellar 4-Part Action Thriller

Published Sep 11, 2026, 10:44 PM EDT

Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with extensive experience. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy, and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. With his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's tackled a wide variety of articles.

Reacher is considered to be one of Prime Video's top TV shows, thanks to the brutal fight scenes that protagonist Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) finds himself embroiled in and the simple yet compelling idea of Reacher wandering the United States while delivering his own brutal brand of justice. The results speak for themselves: not only does Reacher top Prime Video's streaming charts with each new season, but the fourth season is now heading toward its finale. And while the end of Season 4 may leave fans wanting more, Prime Video isn't exactly leaving them empty-handed.

The Reacher spinoff Neagley, focused on one of Reacher's closest allies, Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), will premiere all eight of its episodes on September 16, the same day as the Reacher Season 4 finale. With the franchise expanding and Neagley finally stepping into the spotlight, it's an especially good time to look at the other Prime Video action series that helped pave the way for Reacher's success. One of the biggest is Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, based on Tom Clancy's novels and starring John Krasinski as the titular CIA analyst pulled into increasingly dangerous conflicts. For viewers already invested in Reacher and excited to see where Neagley takes the franchise next, Jack Ryan is another action-heavy Prime Video series well worth revisiting.

'Jack Ryan' Set The Stage for 'Reacher', 'The Terminal List' and Other Prime Video Series

Jack Ryan follows a formula that Reacher would adapt to great effect: each season features a different conflict for Ryan to overcome with his "particular set of skills". In Season 1, he's taken from his cushy desk job and thrown into conflict with a terrorist; then he has to fight off a plot to resurrect the Soviet Union (yes, really) and eventually learns that there's a corrupt operator within the CIA. Each of these conflicts usually involves Ryan tracking down, then either killing the antagonist of each season or working to bring them down with his analytical skills. The action sequences feel intense thanks to the different directors that board each season; Phil Abraham, who directed multiple episodes of Daredevil, brings a grittier, down-to-earth approach, while Morten Tyldum delivers the same sense of tension to the pilot that he did with The Imitation Game. As a result, Jack Ryan feels like a different novel from season to season.

The biggest influence Jack Ryan had on Prime Video was convincing the streamer to lean more into television series based on military fiction. Reacher is based on Lee Child's novel of the same name, and doesn't shy away from the fact that Jack Reacher was a former military officer. Likewise, The Terminal List and its spin-off The Terminal List: Dark Wolf draw influence from The Terminal List novels by Jack Carr. Jack Ryan also gave birth to the era of "Dad TV", which most of these shows fit into. Their meat-and-potatoes storytelling, rugged lead protagonist, and generous use of violence made them huge hits, which led Prime to continue mining the same well. Even Prime's latest series, Butterfly, fits into this mold: it's based on the BOOM! Studios comic book that follows a secretive spy organization, and it literally puts the "Dad" in "Dad TV" since Daniel Dae Kim's character is attempting to reconnect with his daughter.

'Jack Ryan' Might Be Over, but It Continued With a Movie

Image via Amazon MGM Studios

Jack Ryan managed to last for four seasons, scoring a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes during its run. While praise was given to Krasinski's performance and the action performances, some of the story beats drew controversy. Season 2 drew fire for a plot where Ryan attempts to stop a cache of nuclear weapons from being shipped out of Venezuela; the Venezuelan government criticized this as "crass war propaganda." Despite the controversy, Jack Ryan continued with a movie picking up after the events of the series, with Krasinski returning to the lead role.

The movie leaned further into the action that fans had come to expect, with Krasinski hyping up its approach in an interview with Collider's Tania Hussain. "We were so excited to do a movie. As much as the long-form storytelling was a whole different ballgame to play in, it's really fun to reduce it down and condense the timeline and therefore the tension. So, we're getting to do all the big fun action movie stuff that we didn't get to do in a television show," he said.

Jack Ryan's return with the movie showed just how far the franchise had come, as the series helped to pave the way for Reacher and other hit series on Prime Video. Even if the movie itself didn't quite live up to the series, if you love propulsive narratives, intense action, and the type of hero who can get stuff done on his lonesome, then Jack Ryan is the show for you.