August 12, 2026
Provided image/Prime
Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) rides the Broad Street Line and learns about Gritty in the premiere of Season 4.
The fourth season of "Reacher" is set in Philadelphia, and the Prime series doesn't let anyone forget it in its premiere.
The episode, one of three that debuted Wednesday, begins with a shot of the William Penn statue atop City Hall. When the camera comes back down to JFK Boulevard, it finds drifter/investigator Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) at Uptown Beer Garden with a bottle in hand. He leaves to board the Broad Street Line at Walnut-Locust Station, but not before ordering a "whiz wit" cheesesteak at a nameless food cart on the sidewalk.
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A convenient way to dodge declaring allegiance to Angelo's or Del Rossi's? Perhaps, but Reacher needs fuel for what's ahead. While riding the train, he encounters a distressed and, he believes, dangerous woman who later dies by suicide. Since he was the last person to speak to her, Reacher is hauled into a police station for questioning. (Mystifyingly, he claims he was at the "Uptown on Frankford.") One of the officers interrogating him, Tamara Green (Sydelle Noel), explains the allure of Flyers hockey when he asks her about the Gritty bobblehead on her desk.
"Perfect blend of speed, skill and physicality," she says. "Two guys got beef, they battle it out. No politics, no bulls---."
"Well, some bulls---," Reacher replies, flicking the bobblehead.
"Don't be s----- to my Gritty," Tamara quips.
At Reacher's insistence, Tamara orders them more cheesesteaks — "I'm in Philly" he keeps repeating, by way of explanation — while they wait for federal investigators to arrive for additional questions. The central mystery of the season deepens when Reacher leaves the station and gets attacked by goons searching for a flash drive. One of the fights goes down at Parkway Central Library, where Reacher and the dead woman's brother Jake (Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette), a Jersey cop, are conducting research.
As one might imagine, Reacher and his new friends aren't exactly following the letter of the law, which is how he winds up hiding from the cops behind a menu at Parc. The Prime series filmed in Rittenhouse Square twice over the summer of 2025. Former President Joe Biden unwittingly crashed the first shoot on June 16 when he and his entourage arrived at Parc for breakfast. The crew returned for a reshoot in August after Jay Baruchel, who was originally cast in Rodriguez-Marquette's role, left the production.
The premiere also shouts out Temple University and references the age-old tale of Eagles fans hurling snowballs at Santa Claus. Will Reacher take a selfie with the LOVE statue or, like Hilary Duff, sample a citywide special? Keep an eye out for new episodes, dropping weekly on Wednesdays, to follow his violent tour of our city.
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