"Reacher Said Nothing" is a classic phrase from Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, but Amazon's adaptation had to quickly break that rule.
In order to make the character work for TV, Amazon's Reacher had to break one of the novel's most popular phrases. Lee Child's Jack Reacher book series is essentially what would happen if a murder mystery show like Murder, She Wrote replaced the main character with Dolph Lundgren. This simple but effective formula has seen the fanbase for Reacher grow year by year, which was only aided by the arrival of Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher movies. While this duology was financially successful, Cruise's casting as Reacher was all wrong.
In the novels, Reacher isn't very chatty at the best of times, though his inner monologue is always ongoing. Whether it's thinking about a case, what he wants for breakfast or how he will dismantle a room full of attackers, Reacher is always thinking. "Reacher said nothing" is a famous saying from the book, and basically sums up how little the character tends to say. Reacher isn't somebody who likes to waste words, so if he doesn't need to speak, he won't. That doesn't translate so well to live action, so Amazon's Reacher had to make his internal monologue external.
Speaking with Collider in 2022, Ritchson responded to a question asking if it was a relief to play a character who doesn't talk much, stating "... it’s a little difficult to adapt “Reacher said nothing” to the screen." The actor explained that despite thinking he'd have limited dialogue, "We get to hear his thought process out loud, and it’s a lot of fun to see the way that he breaks down the characters around him or the world that he’s in." A more verbose Reacher is probably something readers weren't expecting, but given the positive reviews he received, it appears most were far happier with Ritchson's portrayal.
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