Neagley Review
Director: Phil Abraham, MJ Bassett, Gary Fleder, and Sam Hill
Date Created: 2026-09-16 14:36
2.5
Neagley Review: Directed by Phil Abraham, MJ Bassett, Gary Fleder, and Sam Hill, the Prime Video action thriller is led by Maria Stenhe. The cast also includes Greyston Holt as Detective Hudson Riley, John Bregar as Mason, Rebecca Liddiard as Judith Gray, Lars A Melby as Ken, Ema Ines as Glynis, Jessica Danecker as Acolyte, and Alan Ritchson returning as Jack Reacher. The series runs for eight episodes and expands the world of Reacher.
Neagley Review
Prime Video series Neagley focuses on Frances, a former soldier of the Army’s 110th Special Investigations Unit, who is now a private investigator in Chicago. Her life takes a turn when her old friend passes away in a seemingly suspicious accident. Right away, Neagley cannot buy the first and obvious version of events and starts investigating what really happened. In the end, it becomes clear that it was a small part of something much bigger, something to do with a certain cult and shadowy figures. At the same time, she must use all her experience and knowledge of herself.
The main factor that made me look forward to the show was the character of Frances Neagley herself. She was one of the most intriguing characters in the show ‘Reacher ‘, and the prospect of having a series featuring her seemed to be quite a viable option. It was so because she was always intriguing due to the fact that she was not just another Jack Reacher copy. She had her own character traits, her own approach to handling different kinds of situations and her own style of being presentable. Therefore, I was expecting the show to feature the development of her character. Unfortunately, eight episodes later, it became clear to me that this is not the case.
There are certain things that work well here, including Maria Sten. The truth is that she still is the best character in the whole franchise. In particular, she gives Neagley the same sort of calmness that made Reacher such an intriguing character. She never needs to constantly prove how competent Frances is. It is enough just to look at her facial expressions or body language and see how she examines people. It is nice that the series did not change her in a manner that would make her just another female Reacher. There are certain vulnerabilities in her personality, and it is nice that the series tries to explore those aspects.
The issue lies in the fact that the background story to her life is far from being more interesting than Neagley herself. The first murder mystery creates the illusion of there being something extremely complex beneath it all. The unusual death of a man, along with all the mysterious circumstances surrounding it, makes for a good start. However, the more the investigation goes on, the more it turns out to be very easy to comprehend instead of posing more and more questions to the viewer.
By the middle of Prime Video’s Neagley, the conspiracy plotline becomes increasingly predictable. The cult angle is a great way to go for a new direction from Reacher’s life for Neagley, considering that there is an opportunity to discuss the manipulation, beliefs, and psychology involved. However, I thought that it was quite elementary. The plot moves forward, but there is not enough of a surprise factor in it to engage me in helping Neagley find out the truth. There are some twists and turns, yet most of them can be guessed by the viewers before the characters get there.
This is especially disappointing since Reacher has demonstrated that a basic thriller can actually work very well, provided that the story’s pace and mystery are well crafted. Neagley lacks that kind of drive. There are several episodes that stretch out the investigation more than build upon it. The suspense is constantly built up because at any moment the plot could turn into something really interesting.
I was also quite conflicted about the involvement of Detective Hudson Riley in Frances’s story. Greyston Holt performs well, and Hudson fits the bill fairly decently as a character capable of providing either an adversary or an ally for Neagley. However, the romantic route for both characters did not seem believable to me. At times, their relationship seemed more like an instruction from the script as to how I should see their relationship rather than a plot element explaining why I should believe that they fit each other.
The handling of Neagle’s fear of being touched did not satisfy me either. It was a rather distinct feature of her character in Reacher, which could have been elaborated to add more emotional layers. However, the reason presented for her fear does not seem sufficient for the way this problem is emphasised in the series. In most cases, it seemed to me that the show tried too hard to justify her fear, while I wanted to understand her better.
There is plenty of action, and there should have been much more of it here. Maria Sten obviously has the capability to lead an action series, and she also has what it takes physically. There is fighting and confrontation in it, and even some of it works, yet very often the choreography fails to create those iconic action moments that would make Neagley into an action franchise of its own. There were too many instances where action seemed to serve only the purpose of moving the plot forward. Given the background and talents of the character, there should have been more action for Frances.
What makes this even more annoying is the fact that the Prime Video Neagley series does possess a very strong base to create an amazing spinoff. Frances is an outstanding character, played brilliantly by Maria Sten, and leaving Reacher in the background was the correct move on the show’s part. But the main thing about it is the lack of personality created beyond having Neagley at the heart of the show. It takes inspiration from the crime thriller genre of Reacher but fails to deliver anything close to his quality.
Prime Video Neagley Review: Summing Up
For me, that just means Reacher spinoff Neagley is an incredible lost chance. I entered this series hoping to find that Neagley would get to stretch her legs, and I was really interested to see what kind of things she would be able to do all on her own. Unfortunately, I ended up finding myself hoping for better writing than the wonderful acting that Maria Sten gives us.
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