The 2012 action thriller Jack Reacher is preparing for a new streaming chapter as it heads to Kanopy on January 1, making the film accessible through libraries and universities across the U.S. For fans who came to the character through Alan Ritchson’s hulking Prime Video incarnation, this move offers a chance to revisit — or finally discover — the lean, cerebral origin point of the franchise.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie and based on Lee Child’s novel One Shot, Jack Reacher introduced audiences to a very different kind of action hero. Tom Cruise’s Reacher isn’t defined by brute force as much as calculation, intuition, and an almost unsettling calm. He’s a former military police investigator who drifts from place to place, stepping in when systems fail and justice needs a nudge — hard. The film opens with a seemingly open-and-shut case: a mass shooting, an arrested suspect, and a chilling message that simply reads, “Get Jack Reacher.”

Lee Child Will No Longer Write ‘Jack Reacher’

Lee Child, having just turned 71 and released his latest novel Exit Strategy, has officially announced that he’s finally stepping back from the franchise — making his younger brother and longtime co-author Andrew Child the full steward of Reacher’s future.

“My entire ambition was to give the character away. Andrew was the original Reacher fan — he’d been reading the manuscripts since the beginning. Now it’s his. That was always the idea.”

One of the most intriguing things about the process Child employs to craft his work is that he never outlines his novels. It’s probably that very relaxed approach that makes Reacher so relatable.

“Everything I do as a writer is based on how I felt as a reader — that gleeful feeling of I cannot wait to see what happens next. I need that feeling as a writer. If I planned the story, I’d already be done with it. So I invent it sentence-by-sentence to stay thrilled.”

Fans often put themselves in the shoes of Reacher and admire his way of life: wandering, unattached, unburdened. For Child, that appeal was intentional — even if living like Reacher proved impossible.

“Reacher rejects everything modern life tells us we need — status, possessions, commitments. People are sick of burdens. At first, I thought it was a male fantasy, that freedom. But Reacher isn’t materialistic — and that resonates. Men don’t need very much stuff.”

Jack Reacher will debut on Kanopy on January 1.