'Neagley' Star Officially Addresses the 'Reacher' Spin-Off's Darker Tone and Season 2's Direction

Published Sep 16, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

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Editor's note: The following contains major spoilers for Neagley.

Summary

• The Prime Video TV series 'Neagley' is a grittier, darker Reacher spin-off that digs into psychology while keeping the action.
• Frances Neagley reluctantly builds a team with Hudson, Keno and Renee, as their mutual respect grows.
• Romance simmers but Neagley's haphephobia keeps intimacy restrained for future seasons.

In the Prime Video TV series Neagley, a spin-off of the hit actioner Reacher, Frances Neagley (Maria Sten) works out of a bustling Chicago private investigations office where she doesn’t really like anyone, and they don’t particularly like her. However, she’s good at her job, so when she decides to get answers about a childhood friend who has died under mysterious circumstances, her boss leaves her to it. But when she needs the help of Detective Hudson Riley (Greyston Holt), a cop from a crime family, Renee (Adeline Rudolph), the receptionist at the PI office, and Keno (Jasper Jones), she realizes that she just might be stronger with a team, as long as it’s the right group.

Over the course of the season, it’s Hudson Riley that Frances Neagley spends the most time with, forming a reluctant partnership that develops into mutual respect. While there are definitely deeper feelings between them, Neagley’s haphephobia, or fear of being touched, will keep them from having a more intimate relationship as she works through her own personal issues. That leaves plenty to explore moving forward into a possible Season 2, as this new team figures out what’s next.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat with Holt about how Neagley stands apart from Reacher, whether he thinks Hudson might get along with Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) if they ever had to work together, his character’s complex family history, keeping their core four together moving forward, figuring out how best to respect Neagley’s haphephobia, not wanting to push a romance too soon, Hudson’s friendship with Keno, what he’d like to see in a possible second season, and the action scene he’d love to work into the show.

‘Neagley’ Stands Apart From ‘Reacher’ With Its Grittier Tone and Deeper Psychological Exploration

"We still have all the action and fighting."

Image via Prime Video

COLLIDER: I love Reacher and I love the character of Frances Neagley, so I couldn’t wait to watch this show to learn more about her. What do you love most about what this show is able to do as its own show within this world and about the vibe that you guys have established?

GREYSTON HOLT: From the get-go, we set out to stand alone and have our own grittier tone, but we also needed to honor the source material and the Reacher universe. We can’t step too far away from that. But I think what sets our show apart is that it’s a little more sinister and a little more psychologically testing. We dig into the psyches of our characters and what makes them the way they are. We still have all the action and fighting and all the things I think Reacher fans love about Reacher, but we delve into a darker, more evil side of the Reacher universe.

I like that this series feels a little bit less straightforward. With Jack Reacher, you know who he is, you know what he’s going to do, and you know what it’s going to take for him to get there. With the characters in this show, you’re not sure how they’ll react in certain situations and you don’t fully understand Frances Neagley’s background.

HOLT: Yeah. We get into the complexity of each of our dynamic foursome. We play a lot more on our relationships with one another, what makes us tick, and how we can push each other’s buttons, for better or worse. That’s something that’s unique to our show.

We’ve seen Jack Reacher appear in this spinoff, but aside from Neagley, at a bit of a distance from the other characters. Would you like to see Hudson Riley and Jack Reacher work together at some point? How do you think they’d get along?

HOLT: That’s a good question. We allude to a slight amount of jealousy when he returns to the picture. I think it’d be an interesting dynamic to see them interact more because they are such different characters. My character wears his heart on his sleeve a little bit more. He’s a bit more of a scrappy guy. He comes from a family of career criminals. Reacher is much more regimented and by the book. I think that dynamic would be interesting to see. I would be 100% on board for something like that.

I also really liked that the big story arc for this season is a personal story for Frances Neagley. She’s that much more driven to get answers because it’s someone from her past. Do you feel like that personal connection driving her was something that that was important to not just the story this season, but also bringing all of these people into this and forming this little ensemble? It’s hard not to feel respect for somebody who is so driven by wanting to get answers for somebody that was a personal connection for them.

HOLT: Yeah, I think what fans are going to really appreciate about this first season of Neagley is finding out why she is the way she is. We dive into that, we dive into her backstory, and we dive into the backstories of all of our lead cast. When you first meet our four leads, we don’t know a lot about them, and we find out more and more about them throughout the season. It brings into picture why they interact with each other the way they do. Neagley is such a lone wolf type character. She really does things her way, and it’s such a unique and specific way. That is something that my character appreciates about her because he’s had to become a bit of a lone wolf. He comes from this family of career criminals, and he had to put that behind him and lay his own trail. That’s also what Neagley did, in her own way. They’re able to see each other in a unique way. Their backgrounds are different, but they’re similar in many ways.

It brings an emotional element to it that helps connect them all.

HOLT: Yeah, it breaks down the wall, especially with Neagley. She’s such a guarded character. Hudson is not afraid to call her on her BS and vice versa, but she hasn’t felt that in a while. Reacher knows her well and they have their own special relationship, but I think it’s been a long time since she’s met someone who really sees her for who she is underneath her tough exterior.

The first time I spoke to you was for Bitten, which was also an ensemble show with a relationship at its core. What do you most enjoy about that experience of really getting to form a little family of characters, and really digging into and spending time with that as the world around them keeps changing?

HOLT: That’s why we do what we do as actors. It’s finding a character and exploring that character and then seeing how the character reacts in this imaginary world that’s created by the writers. The world that Nick Santora and Nick Wootton created for our first season and for our series is such a fun world to play in. I think it makes your job so much easier as an actor when you have such a rich world that’s been created. It all informs your decisions as an actor, and it can come from a really honest, truthful place.

Hudson Riley Is a Cop From a Family of Criminals in ‘Neagley’

"When it comes to his family, they can get under his skin in a way that no one else can."

Image via Prime Video

There’s something inherently interesting about a detective who comes from a family of organized crime.

HOLT: It’s a conflict of interest.

It’s also funny that Neagley doesn’t really care that he wants nothing to do with his family if it can provide information that helps her. How did you feel about getting to have time to dig into that family side and really show their relationship dynamic?

HOLT: It’s a fun dynamic to play. Hudson, when he’s at work as a cop and dealing with criminals and other cops, is relatively unshakable. I think he’s pretty steady. He can let things slide off his back. But when it comes to his family, they can get under his skin in a way that no one else can. You really see that in the first season when he has any interaction with his family. You really feel him boiling underneath because they’ve caused him so much heartache over the years. That’s why he decided to become a cop and try to step out from under the shadow of his family’s reputation.

Any great character has some fantastic inner conflict, and Hudson, of all the characters I’ve played, has the best conflicts that I’ve come across. Hudson’s obligation to this new path that he’s trying to take is to become a noble, good, decent man, a cop who’s taking down criminals. But then, on the other side of that, his family are criminals, but they’re his family. There’s always going to be that element of second-guessing whether he should turn them in or go to them for information. He’s ultimately stuck between a rock and a very hard place constantly.

His relationship with his family is much like what happens when you run into someone you knew from high school but haven’t seen in a while. You suddenly slip into the dynamic you had when you knew them, no matter how much time has passed.

HOLT: Yeah, I feel that a little bit with my personal life because I’ve been acting for 20-plus years and lived all over. I come from the small town that I live in now, Salt Spring Island. We moved back here five years ago. I can go off and do my filming and press and red carpets, and then I come back to the island and I’m running into the same people at the grocery store and I’m just Greyston from high school, like you were saying. They care about this show, though. A lot more people are asking about it than any other show.

I love how the relationship between Frances and Hudson develops throughout the season, and also the way you and Maria Sten work and play off of each other. What is it like to have her as the number one on set and to see how she approached all of this, transitioning from a supporting character to leading the series and opening up this world so much more?

HOLT: There’s a reason they put us together. When we first had our chemistry read, when I first met her, before I booked the part, and we did our scenes together, there was an immediate chemistry and an immediate back and forth. It seemed natural. I guess they cast me because we just had something innate about us that worked together. In terms of her leading her own show, it’s a lot of pressure and I thought she handled it with grace and focus. There’s a reason she has her own show now. She brings such an intensity and intellectual side to her work that shines through in her character. There’s a reason she’s Neagley. There’s so much of her, as Maria, that that shines through in Neagley. It’s not easy starring in your own show, especially when there’s a lot of pressure to honor this beast of a series which is Reacher, and to bring your own spin and your own vibe to it. I think she did such a phenomenal job with that.

It’s not easy to get a group of people to form so quickly at the beginning of a show, but it felt pretty immediate between the four of you.

HOLT: Thanks for noticing that. That’s another thing that sets our show apart from Reacher. Every season of Reacher, other than Reacher, is a new cast of characters and villains. I’m sure we’ll have some new villains if we get multiple seasons, but we’ll get to know our top four cast – Neagley, Hudson, Keno, and Renee. I think fans will enjoy and appreciate watching us grow together more and see that dynamic take more shape.

One of the things that obviously really makes this series unique is Frances Neagley’s haphephobia. It’s something that she’s learning how to deal with and that she’s trying to understand the cause of, and it’s something that your character has to learn to understand. What was that like for you guys to figure out? How did you feel about that element of the series?

HOLT: It’s such a part of who her character is. I was so aware of that going into this, and she’s so aware of that. She really embodies that when she’s on set. Even when we’re blocking and setting up for scenes, that is something that is never forgotten. It helped inform my choices because I knew that and because she was so good at portraying that distance. If you shifted a little bit, you’d feel her tense up. She’s been living with this character for so long that it was just immediate and natural for her to have those reactions. It made it much easier for me to work off of.

It was so interesting to watch your relationship play out as Hudson gains understanding of what Neagley’s boundaries are.

HOLT: Yeah, and you’ll understand why she has this haphephobia and why she has a lot of the issues that she’s has carried forth since she was young.

Greyston Holt Doesn’t Want ‘Neagley’ To Push Anything Romantic Between Frances and Hudson Too Soon

"When we get to the end of the season, where we end up is so earned and it tracks."

I love when your character says to her, “I like you even though you’re not always that nice,” because it’s true. Why is it important to you to have that respect between them really feel earned by the end of the season?

HOLT: Absolutely, yeah. And that’s something where Nick Santora and Nick Wootton, our writers/producers/creators, and myself and Maria, felt that whatever outcome we had at the end of the season, we wanted it to feel earned. We didn’t want to push anything too soon. We didn’t want it to be about our relationship and where it may or may not go. When we get to the end of the season, where we end up is so earned and it tracks. Sometimes these types of relationships in certain movies and shows happen too quick. Especially in our show, there’s so much going on. We’re trying to solve this case. There’s action and different dynamics. We all have our personal shit that we’re dealing with. We don’t have the time to fast track any type of relationship. The work comes first. Let’s deal with the case and then see what happens along the way.

What was the moment for you when the dynamic between Neagley and Hudson really clicked? Was it early on?

HOLT: Some of it was there in the audition. Like I said, we had an immediate chemistry. We just clicked and the dynamic between our two characters seemed clear. To be honest, it was just a natural progression throughout the whole season. What really worked is that any potential jitters or things that we were personally trying to work out with our characters all felt real because Hudson and Neagley had just met and they both can be hardheaded. That’s easier to play when you don’t know someone that well. And then, our characters grew together as the season progressed. It was just a natural process. So, there wasn’t really one moment that stood out or scene where it started to click. It just happened naturally throughout the whole eight episodes. Certainly, I think there will be some scenes that fans will watch and be like, “Okay, there was a shift here.” Some of that’s brought on by certain traumatic incidents that we face in the season. When two people go through something traumatic or heavy, you’re going to bond and become closer.

I feel like Neagley having this new team by her side at her dad’s funeral wouldn’t have happened earlier on. They went through a lot to get them to that place. Did that also feel like an important moment, when all of you could stand by her side and that she wanted you all there.

HOLT: Absolutely, yeah. I don’t know how you honor someone better than to be there when a loved one dies, and to be there in support of them. That was a really beautiful scene with a great reward and payoff for how far we had come in our relationships.

What Could Be Next for Hudson Riley and Frances Neagley in Season 2 of ‘Neagley’?

"They're still going to butt heads, all the time."

Image via Prime Video

What are you most interested in seeing with them in a possible Season 2? With Hudson having these feelings for Frances, and the same for her with him, how would you like to see that explored?

HOLT: I think what will be interesting is that so many of the walls have been broken down now. So much has been said. We know so much more about each other. A lot of the hard work this season was letting each other in and realizing that we can work together and we can grow together. Now that a lot of that is out of the way, it’ll be interesting to see. Guaranteed, they’re still going to butt heads, all the time. There’s still going to be that dynamic relationship they have, of both being hardheaded and both having their own specific ways of dealing with cases and people. That will be there. But in terms of anything past that, romantic is not the word I want to use, but I feel like they certainly are getting closer to one another. Any time you really care about someone and they’re in a dire situation, and this whole show is constantly placing us in dire situations, it just raises the stakes. Whatever our writers have in store for a potential Season 2, I think the stakes will just be that much higher, in terms of how we care for each other.

Hudson and Neagley feel like two people who would not necessarily verbalize their feelings, but they have to because they can’t physically touch.

HOLT: Totally, yeah.

We take it for granted that you can comfort someone you care about by touching their shoulder or giving them a hug, but Hudson can’t do that with Neagley.

HOLT: I know how that is with my partner. In certain situations, there isn’t much to say. Sometimes someone just wants to be held. And if you don’t have that, you have to get creative with how you express yourself to that person.

I really do love this foursome of characters. Did you guys get to spend any time together before the filming started? Did you do anything to bond as an ensemble?

HOLT: We didn’t have that much time. We were so busy. I have a family and, at the time, had a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. We got a couple dinners in, and we had the read through, but we didn’t have a ton of time together before. We really found so much of our dynamic and our relationships on set. When you’re on set, you bond fast. You’re immediately together for 15- or 16-hour days, so you grow bonds quick.

Were you surprised at how much fun Hudson and Keno are together? What did you most enjoy about that dynamic and what more do you want to see with the two of them?

HOLT: What I loved about Jasper, who plays Keno, is that he’s such an open book. He just wants to learn. He’s not scared to ask a dumb question or too many questions. He’s such a pure guy, in the most charitable sense. Much like the journey that we put him on throughout the whole season, he’s a new actor. He’s done just a couple of projects before. So much of this whole thing is new to him. And so, for me personally, to see him grow throughout that process was really cool. At the beginning, Hudson is very suspicious of this guy. He’s a two-bit criminal. He’s always up to no good. He doesn’t know if they can trust this guy, let alone that he can even get the job done. And so, by the end of the season, for Hudson to see that Keno really proved himself and that this whole mission, for lack of a better term, wouldn’t have been possible without him, he comes to really appreciate Keno.

I think he’s always going to be looking at Keno out of the side of his eye, but it’ll be cool to see that dynamic grow and shift and change, if we get another season. I think there’s something really fun to work with there because they’re such different characters. I don’t know why this image comes into my head because I saw it a long time ago, but there was a cat looking quite upset and there was a little bird sitting on his head and chirping. As soon as Jasper and I started doing scenes together, that image kept popping into my head. It was like, “He’s there. I’ll let him be there. But man, is he pissing me off right now.”

I love that we get that moment with everyone together in the office at the end, now that Neagley has taken over. It feels like the possibilities are really open for what could come next.

HOLT: Yeah, absolutely. And that was a set they built in the studio. Our production design did such a phenomenal job honoring the vibe, the tones, and the architecture of Chicago. We shot the show in Toronto, and there are little pockets that can be sold as Chicago. But Chicago has such a defined character, and I thought that it also played a huge role in being a character in our show.

Greyston Holt Has an Action Scene in Mind That He’d Like To Do in a Possible Season 2 of ‘Neagley’

"They don't usually let us do that kind of thing."

Image via Prime Video

This is also a very physical show with a lot of different kinds of action. There are fights, there are shootouts, and there are a lot of things going on at once, a lot of the time. What did you learn from doing the first season that you feel will help prepare you for doing it again for another season? Is there any kind of action scene that you really want to do in the future on the show?

HOLT: I’ve always wanted to jump through a window. Maria got to do that. I can’t remember if they used a double. They probably used a double. They don’t usually let us do that kind of thing. Any time I’ve ever seen an action movie or series, I’m like, “Fuck, I want to jump through a window.” But in terms of preparation, I don’t think I’d change much. I felt very prepared, going into it. There’s a lot of pressure going into the first season of any series. I’ll be doing my same preparation going into a Season 2, but I think there will be a bit of a weight lifted. If anybody gets a Season 2 ever, it’s because people like your show, so you know you did something right. If we do get a Season 2, I think it’ll be like a year and a half after we wrapped Season 1, give or take, so that’s a lot of time off to step back into the characters and remember what you did.

Neagley is available to stream on Prime Video.

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  Greyston Holt

  Detective Hudson Riley

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  Maria Sten

  Frances Neagley