Is one character namedrop potentially setting up the events of Season 3?

Editor’s Note: The below contains spoilers for Reacher Season 2.

THE BIG PICTURE

 In the Season 2 finale of Reacher, most of the bad actors involved in the New Age plot are apprehended or killed, but the identity of A.M.’s buyers is never revealed.
 Since Reacher and his team have stolen the bearer bonds supplied by the buyers and given them to the families of Langston’s victims, it could present a future conflict if the buyers ever come back to collect their money.
 The mention of James Barr in Season 2 could be an Easter egg for his presence in Season 3 or a clue that events from the book One Shot, in which the character appears, took place off-screen between Seasons 1 and 2.

Season 2 of Prime Video’s Reacher is officially in the books, as Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) and his teammates from his old Army unit, the 110th, manage to defeat Shane Langston (Robert Patrick) and his conspirators in their plot to sell stolen “Little Wing” software and missiles to criminals.

The deal had been brokered by the shadowy weapons dealer, A.M. (Ferdinand Kingsley), whom the 110th also executes in the season finale. Tying up another loose end, Reacher and his team expose the corrupt Senator Lavoy (Noam Jenkins) to Homeland Security, and the disgraced lawmaker is taken into custody.

While many of the pressing issues are wrapped up in the season finale, Season 2 does leave some unanswered questions in its wake.

When retired Military Police Officer Jack Reacher is arrested for a murder he did not commit, he finds himself in the middle of a deadly conspiracy full of dirty cops, shady businessmen and scheming politicians.

With nothing but his wits, he must figure out what is happening in Margrave, Georgia. The first season of Reacher is based on the international bestseller The Killing Floor by Lee Child.

Who Were Langston and A.M.’s Buyers?

Season 2’s mystery was sparked by the murder of Reacher’s former 110th teammate, Calvin Franz (Luke Bilyk), springing the remaining members of his old unit into action to uncover the assailants and seek justice for their friend.

Aside from Reacher and Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), the only other remaining team members were Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan) and David O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos).

Langston and his cohorts at New Age murdered two other former 110th members, Jorge Sanchez (Andres Collantes) and Manuel Orozco (Edsson Morales), who were assisting Franz in investigating New Age.

For most of the season, the team suspected that another former 110th teammate, Tony Swan (Shannon Kuk-Chun), might have become corrupt and joined Langston for his illicit activities. However, it turned out Swan was trying to stop Langston, but was killed in the process.

Langston used Swan’s eyeball and fingerprints to implicate the former soldier in the plot, creating the illusion that Swan looked guilty. The murders took place because Langston was selling New Age’s advanced smart missile software, “Little Wing,” to extralegal buyers facilitated by international weapons broker A.M. There’s just one problem: Who were A.M.’s buyers?

By the Season 2 finale, “Fly Boy,” nearly all the bad actors in the New Age plot have either been apprehended or killed. However, the buyers for A.M. are never identified or incarcerated. Before A.M. is summarily executed by the surviving members of the 110th, Dixon asks him who his buyers are. A.M. refuses to divulge their identities, saying, “Oh, I’m sorry. That would ruin my reputation.”

Now, it’s likely the identities of A.M.’s buyers are not meant to have significance to Reacher’s narrative. It’s also likely the issue of the buyers is something left to the Homeland Security investigators.

The problem is that the buyers were the ones who supplied bearer bonds for the Little Wing tech and missiles. Reacher and the 110th stole the bonds and donated them to the families of Langston’s victims, and Reacher paid out generous amounts to his teammates or their relatives.

Although all the New Age assailants are no longer a problem, and A.M. is out of the picture, it would be worrisome if the buyers ever tried to come back and collect their money. Again, it’s probable that Homeland Agent Omar Karim (Abraham Asto) will be looking into the buyers.

That said, Karim also seemed aware that Reacher took the bearer bonds from the weapons deal, letting him walk away in exchange for helping him take down A.M. and Senator Lavoy. In other words, there’s a trail of evidence that could lead the unsavory weapons buyers back to Reacher and his friends.

Is ‘Reacher’s James Barr Reference Foreshadowing Season 3?

Earlier in the Season 2 episode, “What Happens in Atlantic City,” O’Donnell mentions the name of a character that should be familiar to fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher saga. After reuniting with Dixon, Reacher ponders if someone the 110th arrested in the past is coming after them.

O’Donnell brings up James Barr, saying, “What about James Barr? The guy’s got the skills and a screw loose.” Reacher shuts down the hypothesis, stating, “Barr’s a shooter. Can’t picture him throwing someone out of a helicopter. Plus, I ran into him in Indiana last year. He owes me now.”

James Barr is a character from the ninth book in the Child’s Reacher series, One Shot. The novel was previously adapted to the big screen by Christopher McQuarrie for the 2012 Jack Reacher movie starring Tom Cruise.

Barr is the former Army sniper who is implicated and framed for a public shooting organized by the true assailants in One Shot, which is set in Indiana for the novel version (Portland in the film adaptation).

Is the James Barr reference merely meant to be an Easter egg, implying that all the events of One Shot took place off-screen between Seasons 1 and 2? Or, is this a technique by the writers meant to clue the audience into events that will happen in Season 3, which is now in production?

While Season 1 of Reacher adapted the first book in the series, The Killing Floor, Season 2 skipped ten books to adapt the eleventh installment in the saga, Bad Luck and Trouble.

Note that the Reacher series is an adaptation — and while the series is generally more faithful to the books than the movies, nothing prevents the writers from following the books to the letter.

Will Season 3 be a flashback season set before Season 2, or will James Barr appear again in flashback scenes similar to the 110th flashbacks in Season 2? Could Barr appear in Season 3 as a supporting or guest character?

It wouldn’t be unusual for a TV series adaptation to alter events and subplots to serve the alternative format. Look no further than the changes Bosch: Legacy made in adapting the books, since the show can’t utilize characters such as Mickey Haller, who is currently featured in his own TV series adaptation, The Lincoln Lawyer, on Netflix.

It’s possible that Reacher‘s creators aren’t looking to rehash One Shot since it’s already been adapted for the big screen.

What’s Next for ‘Reacher’?

Overall, Reacher Season 2 was another fun, action-packed ride. The good news is that the show’s future is not in question, with Season 3 already underway.

Details have not yet emerged on what book plot Season 3 will adapt, but hopefully, that information will make its way to the public sooner rather than later. Along with rave reviews from critics, Reacher Season 2 has proven to be another big hit for Prime Video, with the series becoming the streamer’s top show of 2023.