Jack Reacher‘s got a new opponent.
A teaser for Season 3 of “Reacher” reveals a Feb. 20 premiere date and shows the title character (Alan Ritchson) meeting his latest rival: Paulie, a bodybuilder played by real-life bodybuilder Olivier Richters. First introduced in Lee Child’s 2003 novel “Persuader,” the seventh “Jack Reacher” book that serves as the basis for Season 3, Paulie works as a bodyguard for Zachary Beck (new cast member Anthony Michael Hall), a businessman who Reacher suspects of illegal dealings.
Though Reacher is notably tall and muscular — Ritchson stands above six feet and is known for roles like Aquaman and Hawk — Paulie is hulking in comparison, with Richters being 7-foot-2 and 350 pounds.
In the teaser, Reacher punches Paulie in the gut, but Paulie barely reacts, then lands a punch in Reacher’s face that sends him to the ground. “He’s twice my size,” Reacher says on a phone call with Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), who retorts, “The last time I saw a guy twice your size was on Mount Rushmore.”
Popular on Variety “Reacher” Season 3 will launch with three episodes followed by weekly drops until the finale on March 27. Per the official logline for the season, “Reacher hurtles into the dark heart of a vast criminal enterprise when trying to rescue an undercover DEA informant whose time is running out. There he finds a world of secrecy and violence — and confronts some unfinished business from his own past.
Alongside Ritchson, Neagley, Richters and Hall, the cast of “Reacher” includes Sonya Cassidy, Brian Tee, Johnny Berchtold, Robert Montesinos and Daniel David Stewart. The series is produced by Amazon MGM Studios, Skydance Television and CBS Studios. Executive producers include showrunner Nick Santora, Child and Ritchson as well as Don Granger, Scott Sullivan, Mick Betancourt and Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Matt Thunell. Carolyn Harris and Kenny Madrid are the executives in charge of the series for Skydance. The series has already been renewed for a fourth season.
See the Season 3 teaser below.