Four years after its first season, The Terminal List returns as a different kind of thriller.
Season 2 of the Prime Video series, drawn from Jack Carr’s second novel, True Believer, sends Chris Pratt’s Navy SEAL Commander James Reece on a path of violent redemption as he searches for a new purpose after completing his list. Constance Wu returns as journalist Katie Buranek. Pratt, who also executive produces, and Wu spoke exclusively with BLKCinema.com about the season’s shift into global espionage, keeping it grounded and Katie’s fight for the truth.
Chris Pratt on the genre shift in ‘The Terminal List’ Season 2
Pratt said the new season moves the series into a different genre, speaking both as its star and a producer.
“You’re right, it does shift almost into a different genre. I can answer this as the actor, but also as someone who is producing on it,” Pratt said. “The first [season] is a psychological thriller for a big part of it. There’s an unreliable narrator. Reece doesn’t even know whether he’s complicit in the murder of his family. So it’s just a different vibe. This is a global espionage thriller. It’s opened up into the light of day, and so it changed everything in that regard.”
“But in terms of rooting this in humanity and something authentic and trying to make it as real as possible, that remained the same,” he continued. “That has a lot to do with the people that we surround ourselves with, the team that we hired and built, Jared Shaw, Jack Carr, Max Adams and all of our Navy SEALs on the show. They really helped me stick to the formula of trying to root this in reality.”
He credited Carr with making sure Reece carries the weight of Season 1.
“That’s a testament to Jack Carr, because it’s all rooted in his source material, and he was really mindful that the character not learn the same lesson over and over again,” Pratt said. “It’s not just take James Reece and set him in a different part of the world and have him save the day. The damage, the trauma, the experience of the first book has to live in the heart of the character in the second book.”
Constance Wu on Katie’s search for the truth
Wu said Katie’s drive hasn’t changed, but the world around her has.
“I actually don’t think her motivation changes. She’s always seeking the truth. I just think the pace of information has gotten a lot faster, and a lot more plentiful,” Wu said. “So when you have so much information, sifting through it to find what’s the clearest, truest story is part of the challenge. It’s a changing landscape.”
Pratt jumped in to praise the character.
“Katie’s every bit a warrior that James Reece is. It’s just her weapon is a different weapon,” Pratt said. “She’s also fighting bad guys, but she’s using truth, and she’s using the story, and she’s using the fourth estate.”
“The pen is mightier than the sword, because she will stab you with one,” he joked.
All eight episodes of The Terminal List Season 2 premiered Oct. 21 on Prime Video.
Leave a Reply