‘Reacher’ Season 4 Suffers a Rotten Tomatoes Drop, Fans Are Not Impressed

‘Reacher’ Season 4 has reached a Rotten Tomatoes milestone, but it is one the Prime Video series probably would have rather avoided. Alan Ritchson’s action show is still a huge hit with viewers, but the latest audience numbers show that fans are not loving this season as much as they did before.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Season 4 now has a 70 percent audience score from more than 250 ratings. That makes it the lowest Popcornmeter score the show has received since it first premiered. The number is also a noticeable drop from where the season started. When the new episodes began arriving in August, the audience score was around 82 percent before falling as more viewers added their ratings.

The reaction from critics has been much more positive. Season 4 currently holds a 94 percent critics’ score based on 33 reviews, putting it well ahead of the audience response. So while professional reviewers still seem to be enjoying what the show is doing, a growing number of viewers are clearly less impressed this time around.

That difference becomes more interesting when the previous seasons are brought into the picture. Season 1 was a big success with both groups, earning a 92 percent critics’ score and a 91 percent audience score. Season 2 climbed to 98 percent with critics, while its audience score dropped to 77 percent. Season 3 also earned 98 percent from critics, but viewers gave it a 74 percent score. Now Season 4 has fallen even further with audiences at 71 percent.

In other words, the critics have remained fairly consistent, while the audience numbers have slowly moved in the opposite direction. That does not automatically mean the show has suddenly become bad. It could simply mean that expectations are getting higher after three successful seasons, or that some viewers are becoming tired of seeing Reacher enter a new story with a mostly new group of characters every year.

Season 4 follows Reacher as he gets pulled into another dangerous mystery after witnessing what appears to be the suicide of a Pentagon employee on a Philadelphia subway. The story is based on Lee Child’s 13th Reacher novel, ‘Gone Tomorrow,’ and once again sends the character into a completely different situation from the previous season.

The cast around Ritchson has also changed, with Sydelle Noel, Agnez Mo, Anggun, Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette and Kevin Corrigan joining the story. That fresh setup is one of the things that has helped ‘Reacher’ avoid feeling like the same show every year. At the same time, it may also be part of why some viewers are starting to feel less connected to each new season.

Still, Rotten Tomatoes is only one part of the picture. According to the information available about the season’s performance, ‘Reacher’ remained one of Prime Video’s biggest shows when Season 4 premiered on August 12, topping the streaming service’s viewing charts. That suggests the lower audience score has not stopped people from showing up for Jack Reacher.

Season 3 also gives an idea of just how large that audience is. The previous season reportedly attracted 54.6 million viewers during its first 19 days, showing that the series has built a strong following that goes far beyond review scores.

There is also plenty of life left in the franchise. New episodes of Season 4 are still arriving weekly, so the Rotten Tomatoes numbers could move again before the season is finished. A reported Neagley spinoff starring Maria Sten could also give the franchise another way to keep viewers interested.

For now, though, Season 4 has a strange record. Critics still strongly support ‘Reacher,’ Prime Video viewers are still watching in huge numbers, but the audience score has reached a series low. Whether that is a temporary reaction or a sign that fans are starting to want something different from Reacher is something the show will have to answer next.