Reacher Showrunner Explains Season 2’s Terminator Reference Is Not as Clever as People Think

Summary

Reacher‘s second season dropped a Terminator Easter egg with Robert Patrick, but showrunner Nick Santora revealed the line was not planned for him.
The line is a clever nod to Patrick’s role as the T-1000, despite not being intentionally written for him.
Santora initially considered cutting the line but decided to keep it for the enjoyment of fans and the opportunity to have fun with the iconic movie franchise.

Reacher’s second season dropped an Easter egg for fans of the Terminator franchise, which featured Terminator 2 star Robert Patrick as the series antagonist Shane Langston. However, while a line spoken by Patrick seemed to have been a very cleverly crafted homage to his role as the T-1000 in James Cameron’s epic action sequel, according to showrunner Nick Santora the line being spoken by Patrick was not as planned as many fans believed.

During the second season’s premiere, Frances Neagley uses the familiar sounding alias of Sarah Connor when checking into a hotel. Obviously for fans of the Terminator franchise, this was already a nod to Linda Hamilton’s character. However, the choice of name is made more significant thanks to a henchman asking Patrick’s Langston, “Who’s Sarah Connor?” In response, Langston says, “I don’t give a sh*t.” This certainly counters Patrick’s T-1000 and his mission to kill Sarah Connor in Terminator 2. Although it seems like a perfect callback for Patrick’s character, Santora told TVLine that the line actually preceded Patrick’s casting and was more of a happy coincidence. He said:

“You’re asking the question I don’t want to answer… because everyone thinks we’re so smart and funny for doing it, but it was in there before Robert Patrick came in. I don’t want to lie; that’s the truth. Because of some scheduling stuff, we had to recast, so I called up Ripper and said, ‘I know this is late notice — like, you’re going to need to be on a plane tomorrow — but do you want to go to Toronto and play with some really talented actors?’ And he didn’t even ask to see a script, because I had worked with him on Scorpion for years. He’s such a hard worker and he’s so freaking talented, and I don’t know why but he just jumped in.”

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Reacher’s Terminator Reference Was Almost Cut

Robert Patrick as Langston talking on the phone to someone while wearing a suit in Reacher season 2 — Prime Video

It seems that the Terminator reference in the series almost ended up being removed when Santora finally remembered it was even in the script, and who would be delivering the line. When receiving dailies, he recalled having a moment of doubt over whether to let the line stay in. He continued:

“I really did have a thought, if I’m being a 100-percent truthful, ‘Do I need to cut this line?’ Because it’s a phone call, so I could have easily put something else in [Saropian’s mouth] and just show the other side of the call. But I figured that fans might enjoy it. It’s such an iconic movie franchise and Robert Patrick is such an iconic actor, so let’s have a little fun!”

The decision to leave the line in the series clearly gave Terminator fans a little kick, and its inclusion was made all the better for having Patrick involved. While in the grand scheme of things, it would not have impacted Reacher’s viewership if it had been removed, but if that eventuality had come to pass, then Santora’s interviews would have likely included a story about how he cut a potentially great line instead.