There are 29 "Jack Reacher" novels published so far, and over a dozen short stories. There is no shortage of material for the "Reacher" TV series to work with, which is great except for one crucial problem: when it comes time to get to work on the new season, how does the show choose which book to adapt next? The obvious choice would be to go in chronological order, but "Reacher" abandoned this approach as early as its second season, which jumped far past the second novel to adapt the eleventh.
The "Jack Reacher" books are all fairly standalone thanks to Reacher's deep unwillingness to stay in one place or make permanent friends, which means there are few downsides to the show's approach of picking whichever book interests them the most. There'll need to be occasional adaptative changes, sure, but never anything serious.
In a February 2025 interview with Reuters, author Lee Child (who is also an executive producer for the TV series) shed some light on how the show picks its next book each season. "It's a random choice in a way," he said. "It's like a reader can pick up any of the books and be entirely satisfied... They all stand alone. So in a sense it can be random." But rather than truly picking at random, Child explained that there was some method to the show's madness: