The Terminal Listcreatives have explained how future seasons and spinoffs of the Prime Video show will adapt the eight-book franchise. Following the success of season 1 in 2022,The Terminal Listseason 2was confirmed, with the upcoming season now in production. A spinoff prequel,The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, will also be airing later this month.
The series is based on a novel series of the same name by Carr, following protagonist James Reece on a number of high-profile missions around the world. However,the upcoming book in the series,Cry Havoc, will focus on Reece’s father, Tom. Plans for both the TV universe and books appear to stretch beyond James' journey.
In an interview withScreenRant,Carr explained how there are “a lot of options” for how the series can play outbecause of the Recce and Hastings family stories that can still be told. Series creator David DiGillio and star Jared Shaw also chimed in about how books will be incorporated into the adaptation alongside potential for further spinoff storylines:
ScreenRant: There’s so many books to adapt. There’s so many more characters to introduce. If we were to take a peek into the writer’s room, the creative room, how much of it is mapped out? What does the board look like?
Jack Carr: There’s a lot of pieces on that board right now. A lot of options on that board right now. I have Cry Havoc coming out October 7th, available for pre-order right now. It’s a story of James Reece’s father in Vietnam, 1968, and every character in there is written through the lens of 1968. So without those 50 plus years of hindsight, which took me a lot longer than I anticipated and really became historical fiction as I was delving into these characters and then their backstories that brought them to this point in 1968 to do these things, it’s really an espionage story set in Saigon, 1968. But there are options there. There’s options with some other characters and the Hastings side of this map. And from the very beginning I was very cognizant, very deliberately put in these two families, Reece family, Hastings family that had backstories for their fathers and grandfathers that would be worth exploring in more depth.
And I wanted to verify they were interesting and made sure I could seed those very early on. I saw Stephen Hunter do that with the Bob Lee Swagger series, which I love. So I think I probably got that from him. So I wouldn’t get to let’s say, book 15 and say, ‘Oh geez, I got to give my character a break. Let me all of a sudden give him a grandfather in World War II or a father in Vietnam that hasn’t been mentioned up to this point.’ So I want to make sure that all those characters inform the character in the present, in the contemporary thriller, because we’re all made up of our experiences and a lot of that includes family. And so I wanted to make sure that they were a part of that character. That people, that readers and now viewers would understand how this person is making the decisions that they’re making today in a contemporary thriller because of their past and because of the decisions of the past that make them who they are today. So there’s a lot of moving parts on that board and we’ll see what’s next.
David DiGilio: And we have a big board thanks to this man. He is everywhere at all times, but he is still constantly writing. And so if you’re wondering about The Terminal List universe, I think go in and explore those books because you get a lot of clues. We are very interested, I think all of us, because many of us have military veterans from the Vietnam War in our families. So when Jack mentioned that he was diving into this theater and really diving into Tom Reece’s origin story, I think we all came alive in the writer’s room and said, tell us more. And that is the place we’d like to go.
Jared Shaw: They touched on it, Cry Havoc, and then hopefully jumping into a second season of Dark Wolf. We got ideas for that. We kind of know we want to take it and stuff that hasn’t been seen before, but that’s the closest on the radar.
What The Terminal List’s Adaptation Plans Mean For The Franchise
The most immediate show in the franchise’s future is theupcomingThe Terminal List: Dark Wolfspinoff, which will begin with its first three episodes on August 09, 2025. Based on the statements from the series' creatives, it seems like there’s potential for moreDark Wolfjust as much as there is additional seasons of the main series.
In addition, Chris Pratt, who stars as James Reece, hasadditionalTerminal Listspinoff ideas, wanting to adapt Carr’s novels to craft a large TV universe. Given how many different directions the series can go, alongside the number of unique stories it could tell, it seems like the spinoff and season 2 of the main series are only the beginning.
Our Take On Plans For The Terminal List’s Additional Adaptations
Given the eight existing books in the series and the TV universe’s willingness to tackle original ideas as well, it seems like the leadingcast ofThe Terminal List, such as Pratt and Taylor Kitsch, are in it for the long haul. Many elements from the books haven’t even shown up in the series yet, offering plenty of storytelling potential.
Because of how numerous the possibilities are,The Terminal Listhas very strong potential to become another mainstay franchise for Prime Video. If it can join the likes of shows such asReacherin popularity and success, then the series could easily see all the elements from Carr’s novels arrive on the small screen in some fashion.
