At long last, Neagley answers one of the biggest questions surrounding Reacher‘s own Frances Neagley (Maria Sten).
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Neagley → answer → Neagley
Over the course of the eight-episode season of the new Reacher spinoff, which sees the Chicago P.I. join forces with Detective Hudson “Rats” Riley (Greyston Holt), Renee Birdwhistle (Adeline Rudolph), and Keno (Jasper Jones) to infiltrate the cult that lives at Echo Canyon, led by Lawrence Cole (Damon Herriman), and its involvement in the death of her childhood friend Tommy Crane (Jhaleil Swaby), Neagley also discovers the origins of her haphephobia, or fear of touch.
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Neagley → see → touch
A tremendous turning point for Neagley takes place in the season finale, as she shakes hands with Reacher (Alan Ritchson), a scene that Sten deemed her “favorite moment of the entire season.”
“I think it really is so pivotal and shows so much courage,” Sten told DECIDER during a recent visit to our studio.
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Sten → take → studio
“She’s been through the wringer and so much has happened to her.
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much → happen → her
She’s lost her father at this point and has to really create a new life for herself.
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She → lose → herself
And I do think it’s also a nice way of taking advantage of the whole relationship that we’ve set up in three seasons of Reacher.”
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we → think → Reacher
The moment might be heartfelt, but ultimately stays true to their characters’ dynamic, which Sten appreciated.
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Sten → stay → which
“What I love most about that scene is that even though she’s gone on this whole journey and had so much growth and we now wonder what’s next for Neagley, she is still the same old Neagley who’s gonna sass Reacher,” she teased.
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she → love → Reacher
While the new series may not fully reveal the reason for Neagley’s love of cereal, it does expand the universe of Reacher, creating new characters like those portrayed by Holt, Rudolph, and Jones.
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it → reveal → Holt
But, as Holt told us, he and his two co-stars didn’t have a blueprint in Lee Child’s Reacher book series to rely on for inspiration.
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he → tell → inspiration
“Ultimately, we wanted to honor the tone and the Reacher world, but our characters don’t exist in the books,” Holt explained.
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Holt → want → books
“So I think we had a little bit of creative license to make them completely our own, but with still honoring the world.
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them → think → world
It was a beautiful thing to see Maria, who’s lived in this character for so long, and to work opposite from her, and for her to take us all under her wing, and introduce us to this world.
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her → see → world
For more on the importance of Ritchson “pass[ing] the baton” to Sten, “method-eating” cereal on set, and that wild naked acolyte scene, check out our chat with the Reacher cast below.
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Ritchson → pass[e → cast
I’d first like to start off with Maria.
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I → like → Maria
Neagley’s old pal Reacher appears in the first episode.
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pal → appear → episode
How important was it to have Alan Ritchson pass the torch to you in this way?
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Ritchson → have → way
I think that was really important for everyone, to pass the baton along, like you say, pass the torch and set up this other world.
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you → think → world
And to know, of course, that Neagley is still connected to Reacher and the first show that we made before we branch out on our own here.
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we → know → own
And with Neagley, you’re #1 on the call sheet!
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you → ’re → sheet
Did Alan give you any advice about bearing that responsibility in this series?
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Alan → give → series
I think we certainly commiserated about the pressure of carrying something like this that is so beloved by millions of people from the books already.
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that → think → books
We want to pay tribute and do it justice.
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We → want → justice
And I think, for me, I definitely felt that there was a responsibility of not only staying true to the show that we had created, but also the books, of course, most importantly, that Lee Child had written.
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Child → think → that
So I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility and pressure to get it right and not disappoint the fans, of course.
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it → feel → course
And for the three of you, how do you think Maria did as number one on the call sheet leading the series?
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Maria → think → series
She killed it!
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She → kill → it
I mean, she really handled everything with so much grace and she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
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she → mean → shoulders
And I think, given that, you did such a beautiful job.
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you → think → job
They’re supposed to say that.
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They → suppose → that
They’re on camera [laughs].
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They → ’re → camera
Greyston, Detective Riley, a.k.a. Rats has just as much baggage as Neagley herself.
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Greyston → have → Neagley
What was the biggest challenge you faced in bringing him to the screen?
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you → face → screen
I think playing a cop, playing a detective—and a detective from Chicago at that, I grew up on a small island in Canada.
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I → think → Canada
It’s the polar opposite of that world.
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It → ’ → world
There are aspects of Hudson’s character that I can connect with, but in terms of portraying a cop—a detective— that was new to me.
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that → be → me
So you want to make that believable, you wanna honor that and so that was.
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that → want → that
Yeah, it was a learning experience, and I think I got there in the end.
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I → think → end
What research went into the role?
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research → go → role
You want to be as prepared as you can when you start filming, and so we were lucky we had a great armorer in charge of our weapons.
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we → want → weapons
…and 153 more, not listed.
The Aporia
