Reacher Season 6 Must Adapt Alan Ritchson's Favorite Book Or Die Trying

Published Oct 3, 2026, 8:15 AM EDT

Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.

While Reacher season 5 isn’t adapting star Alan Ritchson’s favorite book in the long-running novel series, the sixth outing of the action thriller has to bring this Lee Child classic to life. Ever since The Lincoln Lawyer creator Michael Connelly’s Bosch novels became Prime Video’s successful detective drama franchise Bosch, it has been clear that adaptations of long-running book series can spawn truly great thriller shows.

From the James Patterson adaptation Cross to the Justin Hartley vehicle Tracker, based on author Jeffrey Deaver’s 2019 novel The Never Game, these shows balance the introspective character work of the original novels with the propulsive mystery plotting of police procedurals. While regrettable flops like the Patricia Cornwell adaptation Scarpetta prove that the formula doesn’t always work, these character-centric, dark thrillers have largely succeeded with viewers and critics by derailing the typical network TV procedural setup.

Shows in the Law & Order, NCIS, and CSI franchises, as well as later procedurals like ABC’s The Rookie or Castle, focus on the interplay between their large ensemble casts. In contrast, successful action thrillers based on novel series tend to focus on one lone wolf character, whether it is the title characters of Bosch, Scarpetta, or Cross, or Tracker’s Colter Shaw. This is never more obvious than in Prime Video’s acclaimed Reacher, arguably the most iconic entry into this emerging genre so far.

Reacher Season 6 Must Finally Adapt Die Trying

©Amazon/MGM Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

Beginning in 2022, Prime Video’s Reacher is based on the novel series of the same name by British author Lee Child. While there were a pair of earlier Tom Cruise movies based on the books released during the 2010s, these big-screen efforts failed to capture the essence of Child’s gritty, brutal thrillers. Fortunately, the Prime Video show soon solved this when season 1 adapted the first Reacher novel, 1997’s Killing Floor.

Alan Ritchson’s hulking take on the character was far better received than Cruise’s earlier movies, and the series soon became a massive sleeper hit for the streaming service. However, four years and as many seasons later, Reacher still hasn’t adapted Ritchson's favorite book in the series. While Reacher’s competitor Tracker extends past its original novel inspiration with new storylines, Reacher season 5 is set to bring the 20th Reacher book, 2015’s Make Me, to life on screen.

However, Ritchson told /Film that his favorite novel in the series is Child’s second Reacher book, 1998’s Die Trying, and the actor even revealed that the show originally planned to adapt this novel. Die Trying sees Reacher kidnapped by a trio of gunmen while he tries to help out what he thinks is a random civilian, only for Child’s veteran drifter to soon learn that she is linked to a very important public figure.

Why Reacher Is Already Renewed For 2 More Seasons

Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb

Without giving away too much, suffice to say that Ritchson told Variety that Die Trying was set to be the show’s next adaptation until Donald Trump was reelected in 2024. This led the creators to pivot in another direction, which might give viewers a clue to what the novel’s surprising story entails. Luckily, however, Reacher has already been renewed through seasons 5 and 6, so the show still has plenty of time to bring Ritchson’s favorite Reacher novel to life.

The massive popularity of Reacher among both critics and audiences is the reason the series received a swift two-season renewal, alongside a spinoff in the form of September 2026’s Neagley. The fact that Neagley’s superb 84% Rotten Tomatoes rating was lower than any season of Reacher just goes to show how popular the series is with reviewers, while Reacher’s many viewership records prove it is equally huge among audience members.

This, along with the fact that Reacher’s popularity contributed to the development of many similar shows from Tracker to Scarpetta, proves that Prime Video's thriller series isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Thus, there is still plenty of time for Ritchson’s favorite Reacher book to make its way to the screen as part of the Prime Video series.