TechRadar Review Says Reacher Spinoff Neagley Will Please Fans by Feeling Like the Same Show

In Neagley, Maria Sten's character leaves her role as Reacher's ally to lead her own story. She works as a private investigator in Chicago and learns that a beloved friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident. According to Amazon, Neagley then puts herself on a dangerous path to uncover a menacing evil. Alan Ritchson's Reacher also appears in the spinoff, a decision the review says blurs the lines between the two shows even further.

The review credits Sten with being as excellent as she was in the main series and says the added grit and vulnerability in Neagley's backstory works. It also praises a cult storyline as cool, notes action scenes sustained throughout, and calls the spinoff definitely better constructed than Reacher season 4. On the negative side, the review says Neagley feels exactly like Reacher, especially once Reacher appears; fans may want more Reacher and Neagley screen time; viewers still need to suspend belief; and it questions whether the series is really all that interesting.

Context for the spinoff is Reacher season 4, which was still streaming on Prime Video at the time of the review. The review says fans are divided over whether season 4's pivot to a political espionage plot has worked, but they agree on one point: the show was better with Neagley in it. After three seasons in the main series, Neagley now takes the lead role.

The review argues that little differs beyond the title character's return. It says the aesthetic look of each scene, the eight-episode storyline structure, and the way new supporting characters are introduced and used all feel the same. The reviewer suggests the spinoff could have been braver by creating an entirely original story adjacent to an existing, beloved intellectual property. It describes both Reacher and Neagley as intentionally dumb fun wrapped in a crime drama, requiring little of viewers.

Where Reacher season 4 may have damaged its legacy with a political tone shift, the review says Neagley keeps things more straightforward. Its overarching storyline is closer to Reacher seasons 1 to 3 and has a surprising connection to a little-known cult, tapping into continued interest in true crime. The review says a healthy mix of CGI and real-life action scenes are cool and draw viewers into Neagley's varied daily life. It adds that new supporting characters are sweet and ever-present, but they do not carry the same sidekick weight that Neagley had as Reacher's right-hand woman.

The review's main argument is that viewers are showing up for Neagley herself. For Maria Sten alone, it says, Neagley is the Reacher spinoff fans have been waiting for. The review points to social media, where fans ask for Neagley to return to the main series or for her and Reacher to make their underlying romantic chemistry official. It calls the exploration of Neagley's past the most satisfying element of the new series, saying it digs into why she is the way she is. The review says Neagley pulls no punches and leaves no stone unturned while reaching its hard-to-swallow conclusion, and that Sten remains everything fans want from the television presence they have missed. TechRadar credits anything and everything positive about the spinoff to Sten.