Back on set.
If you haven’t seen The Terminal List yet, what are you doing? Starring Chris Pratt, Taylor Kitsch and Constance Wu, the popular and exhilarating military series is based on Jack Carr’s 2018 book of the same name.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua and Ellen Kuras, the series tells the story of Lieutenant Commander James Reece, played by Chris Pratt, whose platoon of Navy SEALs are ambushed while on a covert mission. However, when he returns home, he finds out that the fix may be in, and he might’ve been set up from the beginning. Season 1 premiered in 2o22, and the show was an absolute smash with fans, the everyday Americans who actually watched the show, but it got strangely low scores from woke “critics” who somehow found a way to label it as some kind of right-wing, xenophobic, toxic male, fantasy. I mean, look at some of these ridiculous quotes from actual entertainment critics:
The Daily Beast called it, “an unhinged right-wing revenge fantasy.”
Roger Ebert called it, “an alpha male cry for help” and “jingoism at its finest, and absolute worst.”
Vulture called it, “chest-thumping miasma of patriotic aggression and xenophobic paranoia,” but added they watched all of it because Taylor Kitsch is hot.
Slate said the show is, “yet another invitation to worship at the altar of the Navy SEALs, who have become, in the decades after 9/11, our culture industries’ warrior saints, which isn’t good.”
TV Line said, “we’re served up huge helpings of red-meat masculinity, hardheaded jingoism and heavy-handed symbolism. (Oh, and lots and lots of American flags).”
Just an insane reach, because why? Jack Carr is friends with Joe Rogan and Chris Pratt is a Republican? This is why nobody cares what critics think…
A prequel series titled The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, focused on Taylor Kitsch’s character Ben Edwards (also starring Pratt as James Reece) has already wrapped and set for release August 27th, with a 3-episode drop. After the first 3 episodes, we’ll get 1 per week until the finale on September 24th. The premise is basically how Ben went from a Navy SEAL to becoming part of the CIA, and ultimately part of the conspiracy that led to the events of Terminal List Season 1.
But that’s not all, The Terminal List Season 2 is also on the way. Titled True Believer (the second James Reece novel in Carr’s series), that one is set for release sometime in 2026. Season 2 is already in production, with Chris sharing a video from set looking rather… unkempt.
Priding itself on authenticity, the show features a ton of help from actual military members both on and off the camera. And according to Yahoo, that was what hooked Pratt after he read the book:
“100 percent… that was a huge determining factor in choosing to option this book and bring it to the screen. It was wildly authentic. I think that’s the main thing people rave about when they read ‘The Terminal List’ is ‘Wow, it’s very refreshing to get what is very obviously an authentic point of view into the life of a Navy SEAL commander’ and that’s Jack Carr and his experience with combat deployments overseas. But yeah, that was the reason we did it, the authenticity and to honor these men and women.”
And this isn’t Pratt’s first rodeo when it comes to playing a Navy SEAL. He starred in the 2012 movie Zero Dark Thirty about Operation Neptune Spear, AKA the killing of Osama Bin Laden. So with what he knows about the SEALS, does Chris Pratt have what it takes to actually be one? His answer was a resounding “no.”
In fact, he had some less than kind words for anyone who even thinks they could handle it, and would actually say that out loud:
“First of all, anyone who ever answers that question ‘yes’ is a d****bag. Even if they kinda believe, maybe in the back of their head, maybe… the answer has gotta be ‘No.’ You can’t possibly understand or comprehend what these men go through in just through hell week, let alone, the full BUD/S training. So I severely doubt it.
I think most people don’t have the makeup to get it done. I’m blessed to be in a position as an actor and as a producer to be able to share this story onscreen. That’s my journey, but I do it because I have such an affinity for the men who can actually cut it.”
I mean, I can’t say I disagree. No matter how hard you think it is, and no matter how tough you think you are… plenty of bad mf’ers have tried and failed to cut it in the SEALS. In fact, only about 20-25% of people who even try ever make it through the 24-week program.
If you haven’t seen The Terminal List yet, check it out.
Here’s the official trailer for Season 1.
Author Jack Carr has been on Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, a number of times, discussing everything from his book, to life in the military, the botched Afghanistan withdrawal and more.
