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Look at her, she’s ready for more. | Credit: Prime Video
Minor spoilers for Neagley ahead.
Neagley naturally had a lot to live up to as a spinoff of popular Prime Video action series Reacher, but now that I’ve binged all eight episodes, I think it deftly rose to the challenge.
It doesn’t hurt that Neagley herself (played by Maria Sten) is the most popular character aside from Alan Ritchson’s hero in Reacher history, to the point where many Reddit threads were dedicated to mourning her absence in season 4.
However, the move to give her her own spinoff has been a wise one. Neagley effortlessly carries on the same vibe, emotion and expectation we have from the main series, and the exploration of Neagley’s personal backstory — which finally solves a huge mystery — doesn’t disappoint.
In my mind, Amazon would be incredibly silly not to greenlight Neagley season 2 in the next few weeks. While it’s still too early to tell exactly how many viewers will be tuning in, that number is like to be a high one. Add in how much the streamer is already invested in the Reacher IP, and you’ve got a surefire success.
The wait to find out if Neagley season 2 will happen is a frustrating one, so I’ve chosen to get a jump-start. Luckily, creator Nicholas Wootton and the show’s lead cast all know what they want from future episodes… and their ideas couldn’t sound more exciting.
‘This is where we develop our future seasons’
“I hope we get to dig deeper into the relationships and emotionality of the show,” Neagley star Maria Sten tells me.
“We have so many great action sequences in this show, and if we get another season, I want to build on that… make it even bigger. Continue to develop these characters, get them into trouble, and get them to face the consequences of their emotional problems.”
Sten knows exactly which beats to hit, but she’s not the only one we’d need to consider in a second season. In the final moments of the season finale, Renee (Adeline Rudolph) and Keno’s (Jasper Jones) romantic relationship is tentatively cemented — so we’re only just starting to scratch the surface of what’s between them.
“I think for Renee, there’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” Rudolph says. “I personally have them too, and I’m so excited to find out about them. And to see what the next adventure is.”
Jones agrees, “I kind of want to leave things open because I want to be surprised. I want to keep giving something new. Maria has done such a beautiful job of that in reprising this character… now that she has her own show, she has to bring something new to the table. I would like to hold that torch and bring that forward.”
For Wootton, what season 2 holds is much more straightforward. “I’ve always seen Neagley as being a Chicago-centric show with a team,” he explains. It differentiates from Reacher in that it has a home base and a consistent group. That means we can explore more about her psychology and movement forward.
“She’s never been in love, had a first dance… all of these sorts of things. Then you’ve got the richness of Chicago’s own crime history. It’s fascinating. This is where we develop our future seasons.”
Yes, I transcribed that correctly: future seasons, plural. This lot are clearly on a mission, and I’m keeping everything crossed that they’ll be successful.