As Prime Video’s Reacher continues to prove Alan Ritchson the greatest action hero on TV, audiences have plenty of powerful shows just like it. Action has been a dominant force on television since the 1990s, giving fans just as many iconic and tough characters as cinema. With the last two decades representing a new golden age for the genre, there are plenty of standouts that pair flawlessly with the adaptation of Lee Child’s novels.
From slow-burn thrillers to hard-hitting action and everything in between, these series all offer something that audiences love about Reacher. Covering small-town murder mysteries, conspiracies, military drama, and revenge, these series feel tailor-made for admirers of Child’s antihero. Some of these were made as direct competitors to the 2022 hit, while others are cut from the same cloth from past eras of TV.
Task Is Officially HBO’s Reacher Competition for the 2020s
Task focuses on FBI agent Tom Brandise, a burnt-out field officer mourning the death of his wife while doing desk duty. His life takes an unexpected turn when he’s assigned to a new task force charged with finding a team of thieves who have been targeting a drug-dealing biker gang. What begins as routine law enforcement soon escalates into a mole hunt when the agent realizes one of his new colleagues is working against them.
While still in its infancy, Task is already poised to be HBO’s official Reacher competitor, demonstrating an approach to crime every bit as brutal. It feels like a mash-up of Sons of Anarchy and True Detective, a combination that screams Lee Child, and the intensity of the series proves it. Like Prime’s series, the first season played out like an episodic blockbuster, right down to the pulse-pounding suspense and paranoia it sews among its characters.
Bosch Is Hardboiled Detective Action That Just Gets Better
Bosch follows the trials and tribulations of Los Angeles’ finest homicide detective, Harry Bosch, as he tackles the city’s most gruesome murders. Along the way, he makes enemies of the worst criminals in town, sometimes forcing his hand to dispense his own brand of justice to keep the streets safe. As things turn personal along the way, he shows he’s just as willing to play by his own rules as Jack Reacher.
An action-packed neo-noir detective series that’s aching for a clash with Reacher, Bosch was the closest thing Prime Video had to Ritchson’s series before it aired. Like the Lee Child stories, it refuses to hold back in its brutal depiction of violent crime, and plays the same morally ambiguous antihero angle. Like Jack, Harry is a man willing to do whatever it takes to keep those closest to him safe.
True Detective Is the Ultimate Small-Town Mystery Series
In 2014, HBO created the single greatest small-town mystery series of the 21st century with True Detective. The first season is set in rural Louisiana and focuses on homicide detectives Rust Cohle and Marty Hart as they investigate a serial killer. Their case spans several decades, following them throughout various stages of their lives as they close in on a horrific conspiracy.
When watching Reacher, it’s clear the writers took some extra inspiration from True Detective, especially when adapting The Killing Floor for the first season. While HBO’s series takes a much slower pace for its tale, it makes the audience feel the stakes in their gut just as much.
For people who loved the ex-MP’s story in Margrave, there’s no better murder mystery experience than Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s 2014 masterpiece.
The Unit Paved the Way for an Era of Grounded Military Thrillers
The Unit documents the lives and missions of an elite Delta Force team led by Jonas Blane. While their families struggle to adjust to the lifestyle on base, the soldiers are deployed around the world, infiltrating enemy forces, combating terror plots, and taking on search-and-destroy operations. When they return home, it’s never the same as before; they’re always forced to navigate the difficulties of civilian life, love, and relationships between deployments.
What made The Unit special was that it went beyond the standard action format, exploring the psychological challenges of deployment as much as the physical. The characters are complex, and like Jack Reacher, they’re often forced to go off the books to get the job done. Each of the main heroes feels like they’d fit in right alongside Ritchson’s protagonist, and it goes to great lengths to make the audience feel like they’re getting a taste of real-life combat.
The Terminal List Is Prime Video’s Anti-Reacher Series
The Terminal List casts Chris Pratt as Navy SEAL James Reece, the sole survivor of a mission that goes disastrously wrong. When he returns home, his life is thrown into disarray by the murder of his wife and child, leaving him the sole suspect. Unable to prove a conspiracy against him, he draws on his elite training to get to the heart of the crime, fighting to clear his name and avenge his family.
Another hard-hitting action series from Prime Video, The Terminal List and its spin-off, Dark Wolf, are gifts to Reacher fans who love its mystery and conspiracy elements. In fact, some episodes beat out any of the thrills seen thus far in the Ritchson series, and it gets even darker than the life of the Special Investigator. It’s a darker mirror image of the Lee Child stories with unforgiving twists and equally tragic characters.
24 Is the Greatest Action Show of All Time
24 documents the life of Jack Bauer, the foremost operative of the Counter-Terrorist Unit in Los Angeles, as he protects America from its enemies. Each season revolves around a different plot, with each episode covering a single hour of the agent’s day. From assassination plots against politicians to attempts to use nuclear weapons against the USA, his missions are always high stakes, often turning him into a fugitive from his own government.
While its real-time format will be a new experience for Reacher fans, it only ups the ante on the suspense and stakes. The series manages to fill every episode with enough action and drama to keep them hooked for the next hour, and Jack Bauer proves himself the toughest TV hero. Played by Kiefer Sutherland, the endlessly intense CTU agent alone was enough to keep people coming back, and every season played out like a work of cinema.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Offers An Insight Into Modern Espionage
The work of Tom Clancy has informed modern Hollywood’s understanding of American espionage, and nowhere is that clearer than in Prime Video’s Jack Ryan series. Updated for the present day, it follows the work of the heroic CIA analyst as he’s thrust into the field to find, defeat, and deter threats to the homeland. As he goes, he’s forced to contend with moles, double agents and personal threats, all while explaining current geopolitical crises to the audience.
John Krasinski brings the same screen presence as Alan Ritcher’s hero, proving that the streamer excels at adapting novels to television. A globe-trotting counter-terrorism masterpiece, it tackles the same themes of conspiracy, mystery and patriotism as the 2022 show. For anyone looking for the ideal series to get into after Reacher, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is Prime Video’s best alternative.
Lanterns Is Reacher for Superhero Fans
In 2026, HBO Max unveiled its long-awaited Lanterns series, a mystery that follows the team-up of Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Detecting an alien presence in a small town, the veteran hero takes the rookie under his wing, training him up to replace him on the Corps. With each man battling his own inner demons, the debut episode left audiences craving more from the plot, especially as a way of building the cosmic side of the DCU.
Fans didn’t know what to expect from the show until its first episode dropped, instantly drawing parallels between the DC story and Prime Video’s action hit. Merging neo-Western aesthetics with small-town mystery, it’s clearly targeted at the Lee Child fan base, hoping to woo them over to the franchise.
In every way possible, Lanterns is already showing audiences that it’s Reacher with a power ring, making it the perfect series for superhero and thriller fans alike.
- Release Date
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February 3, 2022
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Nick Santora
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Alan Ritchson
Jack Reacher
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Maria Sten
Frances Neagley
