Jack Reacher is finally large and in charge in the Reacher trailer

In the 2010s, Jack Reacher became a secondary franchise for America’s greatest action star Tom Cruise. Another way to show off Cruise’s incredible stunt work, the Jack Reacher movies got dinged by fans for, well, casting a man of Cruise’s stature to play Reacher. In Lee Child’s bestselling series of paperbacks, Reacher is “six-foot-five, 220-250 lbs., with a 50-inch chest.” But, of course, that’s not exactly how anyone would describe short king Tom Cruise.

Amazon isn’t playing any of those games with this new trailer. Instead, Alan Ritchson, who could easily be mistaken for a Hemsworth, stars as Reacher, and he’s an absolute unit. The type who can flex and break out of police zip ties and makes us plead, “Jeez, save some abs for the rest of us.” He’s a big guy and the show’s most prominent marketing tool.

Everything about the Reacher trailer is in service of his build, showing him to be an unstoppable force. An ex-military officer turned wandering peacekeeper, Jack Reacher is a killing machine, unfazed by anyone else’s size. He’s just looking for payback, justice, and vengeance—whatever he can get those massive arms around, including beer bottles that aren’t twist-offs.

There’s a bit of Justified in the tone of this trailer. The modern western feel and ultra-confident lead give the show a fun pulpiness that the movie series lacked. Coming on the heels of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, the Jack Reacher movies leaned more into the darkness of the character. Reacher looks decidedly lighter.

Here’s the synopsis for the first season:

Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. When Reacher arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he finds a community grappling with its first homicide in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest him and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. While he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge, one that will require Reacher’s keen mind and hard-hitting fists to deal with. One thing above all is for sure: They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.

Based on Lee Child’s first Reacher novel, Killing Floor, this first season runs eight episodes and premieres on Prime Video on February 4, 2022.