Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: Alan Ritchson, jack reacher, lee child, maria sten, Neagley, Reacher

Reacher Author Lee Child Feels "Incredibly Jealous" of Neagley Spinoff

Reacher author Lee Child on why he's feeling "professionally, incredibly jealous" of the Maria Sten-starring Francis Neagley spinoff series.

Reacher creator Lee Child is doing the press rounds for the new season and has some thoughts on the upcoming spinoff series centered on Francis Neagley, played by Maria Sten, Reacher's confidant and equal. Neagley has been a fan favourite from the original Reacher novels and is a breakthrough fan favourite of the Amazon series. That she would end up with her own series is not a surprise to any fan of the books or the series, with the spinoff currently in production.

"She's this surprise hit of the series," Child said of Sten. "She totally owns that character." Child said that when he writes the character, he sees Maria. "I can't see past her anymore. She has claimed that role, and she totally deserves that spinoff," Child said. "I hope it's a huge success and I hope she enjoys doing it."

For years, readers (super fans are known as "Reacher Creatures") told Child that Neagley should have her own series. Almost nothing about her past was revealed in the books, though the TV series revealed she still had a father she looked after. Reacher often referred to Neagley as the female version of him and suspected her aversion to being touched, and asexuality might have been due to childhood abuse, but that was never confirmed. Child deliberately avoided revealing anything about Neagley's past in the books. "I was nervous about doing it because the thing about her, it seemed to me, was that she's mysterious. She's unexplained. I didn't want to go too deeply into what made her who she is. I felt that would burst the bubble somehow, so I shied away from it," Child told The Wrap.

Showrunner Nick Santora, who developed Reacher as a series, told Child, "Yes, I'm going to explain her. I'm going to explain why she became who she is."

"I thought that was brave," said Child. "And I think the solution that he came up with is magnificent, and I'm professionally, incredibly jealous of it. He did something that I was afraid to do, and he did it superbly well," said Child.

Reacher is streaming on Prime.

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