Chris Pratt faces his biggest career challenge yet in his popular Prime Video show.
Pratt is set to reprise the role of James Reece in the second season of The Terminal List. Based on Jack Carr’s novel True Believer, The Terminal List Season 2 is a globetrotting adventure that shows Reece battling “unknown conspiratorial forces seeking to upend the world order.” As a former Navy SEAL, Reece will use his combat skills to neutralize the threat and potentially gain his life back.
The official trailer teases an action-packed season of combat, lies, and deception. The footage also exposes a massive challenge ahead for Pratt.
The Terminal List Season 2 must reintroduce fans to the character after a four-year hiatus
In 2022, The Terminal List Season 1 premiered to mixed reviews. However, the show became a viewership juggernaut for Prime Video. In its first week, The Terminal List was watched for 1.6 million minutes during the July 4-10 viewing window and finished No. 2 on Nielsen’s Top 10 streaming for that week behind Stranger Things.
With numbers like that, Prime Video made the easy decision to renew the show for a second season. However, the long hiatus between seasons is where the problem lies. With Season 2’s debut in October 2026, it will mark four years since The Terminal List Season 1. That is an eternity for a television show.
Do people even remember what happened in Season 1? As someone who watched the entire show, I’m struggling to remember the details. All I can conjure up is that Pratt plays a Navy SEAL who wants to find and kill those responsible for murdering his wife and child. As for character details and plot points, I’m lost, and I bet many feel the same way, too.
Long gaps of more than 1.5 years between seasons lead to declines in viewership. A Luminate study revealed that Stranger Things Season 5 dipped 23% in audience viewership after a 3.5-year hiatus. The Rings of Power Season 2 experienced a 57% drop after a two-year hiatus, and Wednesday Season 2 fell 59% after a nearly three-year hiatus. If the trend continues, The Terminal List Season 2 will see a drop in viewership compared to Season 1.
Prime Video tried to bridge the gap between seasons by releasing a prequel spin-off, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. However, Pratt’s Reece only appeared in a few episodes since the show’s central character is Taylor Kitsch‘s Ben Edwards.
Pratt’s toughest challenge will be convincing audiences to return for Season 2. I’m assuming there will be flashbacks to the first season scattered throughout these new episodes. I’d also bet the show will spend the first episode of the second season revisiting the first season’s events. However, that still might be enough to restore Season 1’s high viewership.
Pratt’s name can draw audiences to tune in for the first episode of Season 2. Whether they stick around is yet to be determined.
