Exclusive: Lee Child talks ‘Reacher’ Season 3 and what makes a good thriller

We sat down with author and executive producer Lee Child ahead of the release Reacher Season 3. He dishes on how he writes his novels, the challenges of adaptations, and why he doesn’t believe in writer’s block.

Prime Video’s Reacher became a surprising hit when it was released in 2022. The novels were first adapted into two movies starring Tom Cruise before being rebooted as a series with the formidable Alan Ritchson in the role. Since then, the series has received praise from both critics and fans for being a fun thriller and a far more faithful adaptation of the novels than the two movies were.

The first three episodes of the third season of Reacher are set to be released on February 20 on Prime Video here in Thailand. Ahead of the release, we were able to sit down with the creator of the man-mountain himself, Lee Child, who also serves as an executive producer on the show.

[Hero image: Prime Video]

Lee Child on Reacher Season 3, thrillers, adaptations, and writer’s block

What compels you to send Reacher into these small towns and make it the setting of a conspiracy?

In America, there are many small towns that grew a hundred years ago. Then in the 1950s, the interstate system was built, which meant that some of them were now bypassed. These small towns became very, very isolated with the nearest police department possibly a hundred miles away, so you could have secrets going on in those towns. In Europe, which is very densely populated, there can’t be secrets like that. Everybody knows everybody else’s business. But in those small towns, it’s totally plausible that you could come to a place that the rest of the world is ignoring and all kinds of bad things are going on. 

What makes a good thriller?

There’s a saying in writing that the conclusion has to be both surprising and inevitable. That’s the trick of doing it. It has to be logical. It has to be plausible. You have to say, “Yeah, that could happen”, but you have to not see it coming. That’s how I do it. I don’t have a plan when I write anything. I just write it and see what happens. So if you’re surprised, that’s because I was surprised. 

It’s almost like you’re building the bridge as you go along.

Exactly, and that’s exactly what it feels like. I’m in midair and I’m putting the next brick in place and taking one more step. It’s a scary feeling because I’m thinking, “How is this going to turn out?” I just keep moving ahead and eventually finish. 

Adaptations, whether they’re film or TV, are a hit or miss. What do you think makes this series, such a great adaptation of your novels?

This is a huge show with hundreds and hundreds of people working on it. But at heart, they’re fans of the books. They’re doing it because they love the books, so their natural inclination is to do it right and do it very faithfully. They don’t want to deviate. They want to get as much of the book onto the screen as they can because that’s why they’re there.

Was there a time when you had to make that difficult decision of not adapting something that was on the books because it wouldn’t translate well on a TV series?

All the time. It’s a weird thing because in order to get the feel of the book faithfully onto the screen, almost everything has to change because we’re moving from the world of imagination to the world of physical reality. When I’m writing a book, it’s all in my head, and then when you’re reading it, it’s all in your head. But suddenly it’s got to be real human beings in real physical space so some things are not possible and we have to invent alternatives to that.

But the main thing is to get the feel of it so that people don’t really notice. People who know the book well and love the book well shouldn’t notice the changes. That is the real art and I think they’re doing it very well.

What are some of the greatest challenges you’ve had adapting your novels?

Well, there are practical things that you can’t do. For instance, one of the books, 61 Hours, is set in a very snowy location. In the book, there’s this huge field of unbroken snow. In real life,  it’s very hard to work in the snow because people leave footprints.

That’s a practical issue. Also,  if you have a very busy and crowded city, that’s very difficult to shoot in. So you’ve got to find a different alternative for that. But generally speaking, I like to set my books in lonely empty places, and that does make it quite easy.

You’re actually helping the production team a lot.

I think it’s subconscious, to be honest. I used to work in TV and so I understand these restrictions. I think that subconsciously, I avoided them. 

How do you balance fan expectations of an adaptation looking a certain way with the realistic limitations of filming?

The readers do have huge expectations and they want it to be exactly the same. But you’re going to have to change it. There’s no choice. You’ve got to change certain things but you do it in a way that the book reader doesn’t really notice. You get to the next scene and the next scene is what the book reader wants, and they haven’t noticed exactly how you get there. That is the skill and the art of doing it. 

You once called novels the purest form of entertainment. Why do you say that?

On this show, it involves hundreds and hundreds of people. So if it’s good, then you’re sharing the credit with hundreds and hundreds of people. If it’s bad, it’s not just your fault because there are hundreds of people involved. But with a book, there’s only me and you, the writer and the reader. There are only two people involved in that, and I think that is very pure.

Last question: do you have any tips for writer’s block?

Writer’s block— I just don’t believe it, you know? Does a nurse have “nurse’s block” or a truck driver have “truck driver’s block”? It’s a job. Do your work.

The first three episodes of Reacher Season 3 will be released on February 20 on Prime Video