Production notes

On July 15, 2019, a TV series adaptation of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels was announced by Amazon. Nick Santora, who created Scorpion, was set to write, showrun, and produce the series through Paramount Television and Skydance Media. On January 14, 2020, the TV series was greenlit, with Scott Sullivan, Thomas Vincent, Paula Wagner, Marcy Ross, Don Granger, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bill Bost as executive producers with Child. The first season was announced as an adaptation of Child's novel Killing Floor. In July 2021, it was announced M. J. Bassett had joined the series as a director. On February 7, 2022, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season. To adapt the books to screen the writers decided they would need to make Reacher verbalize his thoughts more often, but that they would keep his dialogue short and direct and have him only speak longer to people he respects. They also decided to introduce Neagley to the series earlier than in the books. In December 2023, ahead of the second-season premiere, it was revealed that filming of a third season had begun. In October 2024, ahead of the third season premiere, Amazon renewed the series for a fourth season, adapting the 2009 novel Gone Tomorrow. In May 2026, the series was renewed for a fifth season, adapting the 2015 novel Make Me. Ritchson revealed that the season was originally going to adapt the book Die Trying, but that changed after the re-election of Donald Trump in the 2024 United States presidential election. In September, the series was renewed for a sixth season. Child mentioned that there are books that will probably never be adapted, either because of the setting, the tone of the story, or the story itself, such as 61 Hours, one of the most requested by fans.

On September 4, 2020, Alan Ritchson was cast in the title role. On March 22, 2021, Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald, and Chris Webster were cast as series regulars. On May 19, 2021, Bruce McGill, Maria Sten, and Hugh Thompson joined the main cast. On June 11, 2021, Kristin Kreuk, Marc Bendavid, Willie C. Carpenter, Currie Graham, Harvey Guillén, and Maxwell Jenkins were announced to have joined the cast in undisclosed capacities. On September 14, 2022, Shaun Sipos joined as a series regular for the second season. On September 21, 2022, Serinda Swan, Ferdinand Kingsley, and Rory Cochrane joined the main cast while Domenick Lombardozzi, Luke Bilyk, Dean McKenzie, Edsson Morales, Andres Collantes, Shannon Kook, Ty Olsson, Josh Blacker, and Al Sapienza were cast in guest roles for the second season. Goodwin, Swan and Lombardozzi already starred in Santora's Breakout Kings in 2011. On May 5, 2023, Robert Patrick was cast to replace Cochrane who left due to a scheduling conflict with the second season. On February 8, 2024, Anthony Michael Hall and Sonya Cassidy were cast as series regulars for the third season. On March 6, 2024, Brian Tee, Johnny Berchtold and Roberto Montesinos were cast as regulars of the third season, while Daniel David Stewart was cast in a recurring role. In May 2024, bodybuilder Olivier Richters, also known as "the Dutch Giant", was cast as Persuader's secondary antagonist Paulie. On June 13, 2025, Jay Baruchel, Sydelle Noel, Agnez Mo, Anggun, and Kevin Corrigan were cast as series regulars for the fourth season while Kevin Weisman, Marc Blucas, and Kathleen Robertson were cast in recurring roles. Later that month, Baruchel was replaced by Christopher Marquette after exiting the series due to a personal matter. On July 29, 2026, Kevin Durand, Amanda Ip, and Ciara Bravo were cast as series regulars for the fifth season while Baruchel, who was previously set to appear in the fourth season, rejoined the cast also as series regular.

A temporary townscape was built in North Pickering, Ontario to support filming of the first season. The entire fictional city of Margrave was built from the ground up in a leased farm field in Ontario. Other areas of filming include Toronto, Port Perry and Pickering. Principal photography of the first season took place between April 15 and July 30, 2021, in Toronto. During filming, Ritchson broke a bone in his shoulder, which required surgery. He also tore an abdominal muscle during a fight scene. Filming for the second season took place between September 2022 and March 2023. The season was filmed in various locations in Ontario, Canada, including Toronto, Brampton and Hamilton. Filming for the third season took place in between July and November 2023. Different parts of Canada served as backdrops, including Millbrook, Brantford and Downtown St. John's. Principal photography for the fourth season began on June 16, 2025, with former US President Joe Biden and his son visiting the set in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. Filming wrapped by November 18, 2025. Principal photography for the fifth season began on July 20, 2026.

Reacher was the most streamed television series for the week of February 7–13, 2022, according to the Nielsen streaming rankings, the first Amazon production to achieve the feat.

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.3/10, based on 75 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Reacher captures the trademark bulk of its titular hero while trading away some of his definition, but fans of the novels will find plenty to love about this faithful adaptation." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Lucy Mangan of The Guardian said, "This rollicking adaptation of Lee Child's man-mountain ex-military sleuth is hugely fun, packed with punchups and far better than Cruise's movie efforts." Michael Hogan of The Telegraph wrote, "Reacher is huge, pulpy fun and far classier than you might expect." Joshua Alston of Variety praised the casting of Ritchson but said the character was unsuitable to carry this kind of show: "the longer it runs, the more obvious its protagonist-shaped void becomes". Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter called it "frustratingly over-faithful to the source material", saying, "I wouldn't mind another season, but I'd probably still rather read another book." The second season has a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 43 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Brawny as Alan Ritchson's biceps, Reacher swaggers confidently into its sophomore season as rock 'em sock 'em pulp with a sly wink." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 79 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Conversely, Forbes panned the second season as "one of the worst shows on TV", adding that "there's just not enough going on to make him (Reacher) a particularly compelling protagonist". The third season has a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 42 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Jack Reacher finally picks a fight with someone his own size in this crunchy third season, reliably doling out justice to foes and satisfaction to viewers." Metacritic assigned a score of 76 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The latest season was complimented by Forbes for having improved after certain disappointments from the previous season. The fourth season has a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 33 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Reacher maintains its formula for maximum entertainment, serving more brawn, enough narrative brains, and always the right amount of Alan Ritchson to keep the operation up and running for seasons to come." Metacritic assigned a score of 77 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".