Reacher author Lee Child aims not to be involved in series at all
"It's really my job just to pat them on the back and stay out of their way."
At long last, Reacher season 3 has arrived on Prime Video, with Alan Ritchson once again leading the charge as super-sized ex-military police officer Jack Reacher.
Following his team-up with the 110th in season 2, and the subsequent takedown of tech mogul Shane Langston, Lee Child has his anti-hero tackling human trafficker Zachary Beck in the latest instalment, which is adapted from the author's seventh book, Persuader.
In an exclusive chat with RadioTimes.com, Child opened up about season 3 and his creative collaboration with head writers Nick Santora and Scott Sullivan. Interestingly, it seems they have now reached a point where he is happy "not to be involved in [the series] at all".
"What I believe works best is that you put 99 per cent of your effort into choosing the team at the beginning," Child explained.
"If you do that right, then I am totally confident to let them do their thing. People you like, people you trust, it's much better just to back off and let them do their job and you get a superior result that way."
He added: "At this point, the team is thoroughly established. They love the books, they love the character. It's really my job just to pat them on the back and stay out of their way.
"[For] season 3 [they went] straight for one of those classic lone wolf Reacher stories where he is on his own. Persuader was special, had a great opening, and two really bad villains.”
When it came to expanding on that lack of involvement, and giving Reacher to new writers, Child had more to say.
"The whole point of it is to hand it over because the individual reader has their own TV production in their head and that's not going to be exactly the same as you or I see, it is their version," he said. "So really the whole point is to pass it on, so it’s not a big step to let [Amazon] do it.
"For me, I am trying to pursue that British dream of being a retired person and one day I will get there. My brother is now actually writing the books. I am really happy with what Amazon Prime are doing with the series.
"It's like that old line from The Godfather ‘you try to get out but they keep pulling you back in’, so I will find some way out sooner or later."
Read more:
- Reacher season 3 addresses key season 2 mistakes – and it pays off
- Reacher season 3 release schedule: When are new episodes on Prime Video?
When asked about season 4, Child added: "We have settled on [a book]. All I can tell you is that it is not Killing Floor, Bad Luck and Trouble, or Persuader, it’s one of the other 27."
Reacher season 3 is streaming on Prime Video – you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial.
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