The Terminal List

The Terminal List is an American action thriller television series created by David DiGilio, based on Jack Carr's 2018 novel of the same name. The series tells the story of a Navy SEAL who seeks to avenge the murder of his family. It stars Chris Pratt, Constance Wu, Taylor Kitsch, Riley Keough, Arlo Mertz, and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

The Terminal List was released on Amazon Prime Video on July 1, 2022. In February 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.

Premise

After his platoon of US Navy SEALs is ambushed while on a covert mission, Lieutenant Commander Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. As new evidence emerges, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life but also the lives of those he loves.

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Guest

Episodes

Production

In early April 2020, it was reported that the series, starring Chris Pratt, was in development, and seeking out a distributor. In early May 2020, it was reported that Amazon Prime Video landed the series and Amazon Studios would be joining the series as production studio and the series was in the process of assembling a writers room. Taylor Kitsch, Constance Wu, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Riley Keough, and Pratt's brother-in-law Patrick Schwarzenegger would join the cast in early 2021. In June 2021, LaMonica Garrett, Alexis Louder, Tom Amandes, J. D. Pardo, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Jared Shaw, Catherine Dyer, and Remi Adeleke joined the cast in recurring roles, while Arlo Mertz was cast as a series regular. In July 2021, Jai Courtney joined in a recurring role.

Pratt had previously portrayed a Navy SEAL in the 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty and had become friends with Navy SEAL Jared Shaw. Shaw knew Jack Carr from their time in the Navy, and shared an early copy of the book with Pratt, who had started a production company and was interested in developing his own projects. Carr said he had Pratt in mind when writing the story, and that he had hoped to get Antoine Fuqua as the director. Pratt got into a bidding war for the rights, only to discover that he was bidding against Fuqua, so instead they partnered on developing the project. On February 1, 2023, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season, which will film between March and fall 2025.

In March 2025, Gabriel Luna and Martin Sensmeier joined the second season in recurring roles.

Principal photography for The Terminal List began on March 9, 2021. Chris Pratt was paid $1.4 million per episode.

Release

The series premiered on July 1, 2022.

Prequel series

In February 2023, it was announced that a prequel series focusing on Ben Edwards had been ordered and set to air on Amazon Prime Video with Taylor Kitsch reprising the role. In January 2024, it was reported that the prequel series will be titled The Terminal List: Dark Wolf with Pratt reprising his role as James Reece. The show began filming on March 13, 2024.

Reception

Audience viewership

The series was the number one show on Amazon Prime's "Top 10" list within two weeks of its premiere.

The Terminal List came in at No. 3 on the Nielsen chart with 1.1 billion minutes viewed across eight episodes.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the series has a 40% approval rating based on reviews from 58 critics, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "While Chris Pratt fully commits himself to The Terminal List's mission, this thriller's unrelenting gruffness is no meat and all potatoes." Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 40 out of 100 based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". CinemaBlend.com summarized the reviews saying critics agree the series was firmly in the "Shows For Dads" genre.

Dave Nemetz of TVLine panned the series, calling it "punishingly grim and hopelessly boneheaded." He criticized the series’ plot and direction, writing, "the action is bloody but not exciting, and the story is bewildering but not interesting. In between, we get saccharine family scenes and a paint-by-numbers conspiracy that gets more complicated but not any more compelling." Daniel D'Addario of Variety called it "a dour, miserable sit, one that would be tough to take as a two-hour film, and has been inexplicably ‘roided up to eight hours." Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter described the series as overcooked, taking "eight hours for a book that easily could have been adapted in two hours".

Liam Mathews of TV Guide rated series 7 out of 10, and compared it to other Amazon Prime Video series Bosch, Reacher and Jack Ryan, saying "These shows aren't chasing Emmys, they just want to entertain with a twisty plot, some thrilling action set pieces, and a mildly complex main character. They're also three of the service's most popular and successful shows. Prime Video's latest series, The Terminal List, fits that dad-friendly bill to a T. By the humble standards of the genre, The Terminal List is a smashing success."

Author Jack Carr responded to the negative critical responses, saying "The 95 percent viewer rating, audience rating, makes it all worth it. We didn't make it for the critics."

References

Uses material from the Wikipedia article The Terminal List, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.