“Reacher is a silverback gorilla and Neagley is a mountain lion.” That’s how actor Maria Sten describes the differences former Army military police major Jack Reacher, played by Alan Ritchson, and master sergeant turned private investigator Frances Neagley. So far Sten has appeared across three seasons of Reacher as one of the few reliable people from Jack’s military past whom he can call in for a favor when he’s in a tight spot. If you’re a fan of the series, you’ve probably noticed that she hasn’t appears in Season 4 so far, and that’s because she has been busy doing her own investigation work in Chicago as Maria Sten is stepping out from Alan Ritchson’s massive shadow for her own Reacher spin-off series Neagley. Shakefire had the opportunity to sit down with Sten and discuss what it’s like leading your own series, exploring the character more deeply, and what sets Neagley apart from Reacher.
Shakefire: First off, I Just want to say congratulations on the new series. How has this experience been for you? You were a main character on Reacher, but this is a whole different ball game going to number one on the call sheet. How is it getting to lead your own series now?
Maria Sten: It’s great! Of course there’s a lot of pressure that comes with it, mainly because Reacher has been such a success so we would love to follow that up. We don’t want to disappoint people. And then paying tribute to Reacher, the show and the book series; we always want to make sure that we are consistent and we are carrying on the spirit of what came before, but it’s exciting to be able to build on top of that and now create a whole new language for for the show.
Were you able to have any conversations with Alan Ritchson and get any advice on being the lead and having your name in the title?
I think we talked about it, mainly the pressure thing, because he was coming on to Reacher in the beginning and carrying that legacy forward after the Tom Cruise movies. This is a huge book franchise on its own so you want to make sure that you’re carrying that spirit forward. I think that certainly was something that we both shared and felt that everybody’s looking at you to carry the torch. But it’s also a privilege and an honor.
Do you find it easier or more difficult with this character knowing they might not have as much detail from the novels that fans can latch onto and getting to expand upon that and create your own path for the this character?
For me, my foundation for building Neagley was the books. So I read all the books that Neagley’s in. I think she’s in five books. And that gave me so much intel about who she is and really informed how I decided to play the character when I signed onto Reacher. But I also think it’s exciting to be able to do something that isn’t based on books because one, there are no spoilers out there, right? When you’re watching Reacher, of course you’re excited, but if you’ve read the books you know what’s going to happen. Someone is out there on the internet giving the spoilers. So it’s so nice to be able to really surprise people, and I think this season definitely has some surprises in store. So that’s really interesting. And then it also makes the show really become its own thing. But again, we always want to stay true to the source material.
What was something that you learned on the set of Reacher that you then took into into Neagley?
I think with her less is more. She’s a very unassuming person. She doesn’t try. She doesn’t come into a space and try to own it. She doesn’t come in to a situation and, even me as an actor, she just doesn’t put on airs. She’s very pragmatic, very efficient, and and doesn’t have a lot of ego in her work. She just does the work and shows up when she has to show up, and I feel that that is something that I took and made it a feature of the character, as well as the mindset that I was in as an actor going to do the work as an actor on set.
I love how we get to see more of her character and her personality. She has this fear of touching people. Getting to represent that condition on screen; did you do research into that and making sure you want to get something that’s accurate and do this condition justice? How was that on your mind?
Definitely. That all happened before I even signed on to Reacher because again, no matter how big your role is in a project, you have to do all the background work. You have to create a backstory. You have to create the character from from within, from inside out. So I was doing all of that work back before we started filming Reacher. I found that most of the time this particular phobia is rooted in some kind of trauma, and so I had to then decide what that was for her. It’s really interesting. A lot of people have been commenting on social media and stuff like that, saying that they feel really seen, because it is something that is not at all featured. It hasn’t been featured before. And it is this incredibly debilitating condition because I don’t think a lot of people understand it. Like having to shake someone’s hand when you meet them but not wanting to and not wanting to be rude. I think that that’s a very difficult thing to go through life with. We are always surrounded by other people and we are, as a species, people of community. So to have this distance between you and the rest of the world creates an incredible loneliness, I think. So it was very important for me to convey that realistically.
And I love how that’s integrated into the story for this for this season. I also like the action, of course. Can you talk about doing the stunts? You’re not as physical as Reacher, but you’re much more agile. The cinematography of these action sites are very intense and very fluid. What’s it like preparing for those?
I like to say Reacher is a silverback gorilla and Neagley is a mountain lion. I think that is how they fight. It shows in the action. We try to create action that suits the character. It’s a ton of work. I think people underestimate how much work it is to to put these action sequences together, but it’s also exciting. I mean, you wouldn’t sign up for an action series unless you were ready to work because it’s such a big part of the job. For me it’s just a joy because I’ve always been a physical person as a dancer, gymnast, horseback riding, rock climbing, swimming, free diving; whatever it is. I love being in my body, so it was just a joy to be able to put all those old skills to use in this show.
Was there any one sequence in particular that you that was challenging and you were super proud of and you can’t wait for the fans to see this on screen?
The finale episode is like full-on action 170%, and I really am looking forward to show that. I think that’s a very explosive episode of television, and it was just full on the entire time. No chill. There were some stunts in that one that were particularly challenging. You know, wire work and some choreography and then explosions.
A little bit of everything?
Yeah.
So if Neagley had to go up against Reacher and had to fight him, how would you think she would take him down?
Hmm, I think she would have to use his size against him, which I think we’re leaning into Jiu-Jitsu. Some Jiu-Jitsu stunt work. And also, I will say once you watch the finale, you may have ideas about how she would take down someone like Reacher his size, which definitely leans into using your opponent’s body mass against them.
I also like that she’s a PI, and so we get this more investigative and conspiracy theories coupled with all the action, and so what was that process for you getting to explore that aspect of it?
Great! For me, these are sort of inherent parts of telling of a procedural story. The the difference between Reacher and Neagley I think is Reacher is someone who isn’t looking for trouble, it just seems to always find him, and Neagley, because she’s a PI, she is inherently looking to solve the problems. And I think that as sort of a defining difference between how they end up in these mysteries, in these cases, and and solving them. I think we really see her investigative skills flourish in the season because she’s also working with these other people and trying to implement their skills or using them as she sees fit through the show because of this investigation.
Alan guest stars on the series, but were you able to work with any of the other crew from Reacher? Did any of them come along with you for Neagley?
Yeah, we have the same crew as Reacher. We shot actually Neagley before they did Reacher 4, but the idea is to flip-flop. They do one season of one show and then they do a season of another show. And they just kind of jump back and forth between the two. That would be the dream scenario for everyone. Hopefully that gets to continue on. There right now filming Season 5, so we’re just keep on.
And then hopefully Season 2.
There you go! Hopefully that will happen. It is the same, and it’s so wonderful to have that shorthand with everyone. All the props people know me; the DP, the camera operator, the directors. We have a lot of the same directors as well. They know the language of the show. They’ve been there for a long time. They know the little nuances of what we like on set, and it just makes the work so much easier. We’re like a family now.
You can stream all eight episodes of Neagley on Prime Video beginning September 16, 2026. Season 4 of Reacher is currently streaming on Prime Video.
