After a long wait, The Terminal List is finally coming back to Prime Video, with Chris Pratt reprising his role as former Navy SEAL James Reece. The first season, based on Jack Carr's novel, laid a complex foundation of conspiracy, revenge, and moral ambiguity. If you're planning to dive into Season 2—which adapts Carr's sequel True Believer—you'll want to remember the key events that set the stage. Here's a refresher to get you ready.
Season 1: A Devastating Mission and a Deadly Conspiracy
Season 1 opens with Reece and his SEAL platoon on a mission in Syria that goes horribly wrong. Only Reece and his teammate Ernest "Boozer" Vickers survive, but their homecoming is far from triumphant. Soon after, Boozer dies in what appears to be a suicide, and Reece—who's been suffering from memory lapses—returns home to find his wife Lauren and daughter Lucy brutally murdered. This tragedy sets him on a path of vengeance.
Investigative journalist Katie Buranek warns Reece that the NCIS investigator plans to frame him for his family's deaths. Reece confronts and kills the agent, uncovering a link to Capstone Industries, a pharmaceutical company that secretly administered a trial drug called RD4895 to Reece and his entire unit. The drug caused terminal brain tumors, making the mission's failure and the subsequent deaths part of a larger cover-up.
Reece begins systematically eliminating everyone involved, from the Mexican sicarios who killed his family to Capstone CEO Steve Horn and his naval superiors. He's aided by his best friend, CIA agent Ben Edwards, and Liz Riley, his daughter's godmother. Meanwhile, Buranek works to expose the conspiracy, realizing Reece isn't crazy after all.
The trail leads to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lorraine Hartley, who's deeply implicated. She labels Reece a domestic terrorist, but that doesn't stop him. With help from former SEAL Raife Hastings and Ben, Reece storms Hartley's compound. In a tense confrontation, Hartley takes her own life rather than face justice. But Buranek reveals one final name on Reece's list: Ben Edwards. Ben had betrayed the team, feeding false intel that led to the ambush, and profited handsomely. He admits his role but insists he didn't kill Reece's family. Reece lets Ben live, then sails off in Ben's boat to Mozambique—where Season 2 picks up.
The Dark Wolf Prequel: Setting Up Season 2
Before Season 2, Prime Video released The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, a prequel set seven years earlier. It focuses on Ben Edwards and SEAL Team 5 Charlie Platoon in Iraq, battling ISIS. The series explores Ben's transition from the teams to CIA covert operations, with Reece appearing as a noble soldier full of purpose—a stark contrast to the broken man we see in Season 1.
Dark Wolf introduces key characters for Season 2, including Raife Hastings (Tom Hopper), who becomes a main cast member, and CIA officer Jules Landry (Luke Hemsworth). The plot involves a joint operation with Mossad agents to prevent Iran from going nuclear. Spymaster Jed Haverford recruits Ben, Raife, and others, but things go sideways when it's revealed that Haverford is working with a mysterious operator known as "the Shepherd" (Cyrus Rahimi) to profit from the nuclear bearings. Ben, Mo, and Landry ultimately take the bearings back, but Haverford brands them rogue agents.
These events set the stage for Season 2, where Reece's path will likely intersect with these characters and the fallout from the prequel. With Season 2 arriving in October 2026, now is the perfect time to catch up. The series has been praised for its intense action and gripping story, drawing comparisons to other Prime Video hits like Reacher. If you're a fan of thrillers that grab you from the start, this is one to watch.
