A possible R-rated Jack Reacher 3 was once teased by director Christopher McQuarrie, but will it ever happen? Given how popular the Jack Reacher novels by author Lee Childs have proven since the late '90s, it's surprising it took so long for the character to reach the big screen. A major issue was the fact that Reacher is described as a 6 foot 5 in hulk - a description that fit few movie stars in the 2000s. Had the books been adapted in the '80s, no doubt the role would have gone to actors like Sylvester Stallone or Dolph Lundgren, but that casting pool was literally smaller when the Reacher novels became bestsellers.
A Jack Reacher movie finally reached cinemas in 2012, with Tom Cruise stepping into the role. While Dwayne Johnson auditioned for it and was a better fit based on the description of the character, his stardom wasn't in the same place during this period. Needless to say, Cruise didn't match anybody's image of Reacher from the books, and his casting is still somewhat controversial among readers. That said, the star still gave a committed turn, with the story adapting the novel One Shot.
Jack Reacher was produced for a modest budget and proved to be a solid - if not exactly blockbusting - success. Its critical reception appears to have grown warmer in recent years too, with the movie considered an underrated thriller. Cruise - who has made over 70 movies - later suited up for Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, adapting the Childs' book of the same name. The critical and financial reception to this outing was (deservedly) much more tepid, with the sequel considered a flat thriller. The franchise has since rebooted itself with Amazon's well-received Reacher TV show, starring Alan Ritchson. That said, in 2020, Jack Reacher helmer Christopher McQuarrie - who skipped Never Go Back - stated during an interview he and Cruise were still developing another sequel that could even be R-rated.
Cruise & McQuarrie Were Still Developing Jack Reacher 3 In 2020
Cruise and McQuarrie have become one of the great collaborative filmmaking teams of recent years. They first worked together on 2008's Valkyrie where McQuarrie penned the screenplay, and after more writing work on other Cruise projects, he directed Jack Reacher. He then took over the Mission: Impossible movies beginning with Rogue Nation, and has guided the property to both critical acclaim and box-office success. He also co-wrote and co-produced Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise's biggest movie ever. During a 2020 conversation with Empire, the filmmaker revealed that “Tom and I were talking about, had the series continued, to take Reacher to a place where, in the post-Deadpool, post-Joker world, Reacher could have been an R-rated movie and an R-rated franchise and really fed into the brutality of those books. We were fully ready to lean into that.”
He also revealed he and Cruise were developing another R-rated project but that while the Reacher franchise had moved on, "We haven't." While Cruise tends to stick with PG-13 movies, the modest budgets of the Jack Reacher films would have allowed for a darker approach, as the Amazon series took. While it's uncommon for a movie and TV franchise to exist alongside each other, it's not unheard of, such as the Denzel Washington and Queen Latifah Equalizers running concurrently. An R-rated Reacher helmed by McQuarrie - who would make a great Bond director - would likely be welcomed with open arms, but it's unlikely to happen now.
The duo are still busy prepping the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning duology - which will take them up to summer 2024 - while they're also developing three other projects. One is a musical, another is a new action thriller with "franchise" potential while the third is a solo Les Grossman movie, based on Cruise's monstrous film producer from Tropic Thunder. Jack Reacher 3 doesn't seem to fit into those plans presently, and the further they get from the series, the less likely another film will happen with Cruse in the lead.