If you’ve been watching Reacher season 4 on Prime Video and think that it’s been missing something that you can’t put your finger on, never fear: highly-anticipated spinoff Neagley is finally here.
Maria Sten reprises her role as the titular character following her last on-screen appearance in Reacher season 3, and is now working as a private investigator in Chicago. As the official synopsis reveals, she quickly learns that a beloved friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident and becomes hell-bent on justice.
But, what does that actually mean? The creative team behind the spin-off are in a unique position: create an original story that can sit adjacent to an existing IP with a rich source material — that being, Lee Child’s original Jack Reacher book series. Creative license is there to be taken and, in a way, it has been.
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Having said that, creator Nicholas Wootton has confirmed that, across its eight episodes, all of which drop on Prime Video on September 16, we get to the bottom of Neagley’s unsolved fear of being touched by, well, anyone. And, as Wootoon confirms, you’ve got your fellow fans to thank for getting an answer to this lingering conundrum.
‘This is a detective show format to be able to tell Neagley’s own story’
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“We’re given the vibe of Reacher as a show, which is very specific, grounded, and real,” Wootton exclusively told me ahead of release. “And, there’s this one nugget of information that we get about Neagley, which is that she cannot touch people. We’ve no idea why and no clue about her backstory.
“To me, it was like ‘This is our sandbox, and this is the one thing we can play with.’ We built this season out from there. We wanted it to be a detective show like Reacher — there’s going to be a mystery — but if it’s successful in this first season, it’s ultimately telling Neagley’s story. The best first season of any show asks what we’re learning about our main character, so if we can tell that through a detective story, we’ve got it.”
As fans will find out over the course of the series, Neagley’s family life and personal story is threaded through each episode. No spoilers here, but you’re guaranteed to get answers as to why she has haphephobia… and they’re pretty sobering.
The fact that we’re finding any of this out to begin with, though, is all thanks to the fans. “She’s such a popular character that is was clear that if a Reacher spinoff was being done, this was the direction that would be supported,” Wootton explained. “To say that the fans have had a hand in it is absolutely true.”
“I’ve really felt the love from the fans. Kudos to Amazon for plotting this all out… we shot Neagley before Reacher season 4 was filmed,” lead star Sten added. “But, I love that they’ve decided to air them this way. We know and love Reacher, so it only made sense for Neagley to air right after. For the people who have missed Neagley, there’s a lot more coming.”
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