Wow! What an unexpected and tragic twist to close out the first season of Prime Video's Navy SEAL thriller, The Terminal List. We see Navy SEAL James Reece (Chris Pratt) finally reach the end of his kill-list, and the final name is not who anyone expected. His team of highly trained frogmen were ambushed in a covert special ops incursion in Syria called "Operation Odin's Sword." The final scene captures Reece on a small boat tearing up the drawing his daughter Lucy (Arlo Mertz) gives him that has a list of his targets on the back, and toss the pieces into the sea off the coastline of Peru. It's a symbolic gesture that signifies that he has completed avenging the deaths of Lucy and his wife Lauren (Riley Keough) at the hands of some Mexican sicarios hired by an associate of the ruthless CEO of Capstone Industries, Steven Horn (Jai Courtney). Whether or not he is emotionally ready to move on is another question, as is the state of his physical health which was also quickly deteriorating by the finale and heading into Season 2 that the streamer just confirmed.
Heading into Season 2
We don't have a whole lot of information on what to expect heading into Season 2 as it was just announced in early February that the show would be renewed. We do see Reece pretty much tie up every loose end in the final few episodes of Season 1. He killed everyone on his list including Capstone CEO, Steven Horn, who was the man behind the drug being given to him and the members of his SEAL unit that has the unintended side effect of causing tumor growth in the brain. He successfully gets into the office of the Secretary of Defense, Lorraine Hartley (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and stares her down before she turns a gun on herself out of guilt and shame.Hartley red stamps the drug even after knowing the hazardous side effects of the treatment that was intended to reduce the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. He also finds the man who set up him and his men in Syria. So looking ahead, the second season will have to address the fallout from all of these events and confront the fact that Reece is dying of an aggressive form of brain cancer that has given him painful headaches, memory loss, and hallucinations throughout the first season.
Antoine Fuqua Could Return to Direct Episodes
We don't want to speculate too much, but the scuttlebutt is that renowned filmmaker Antoine Fuqua is being sought to rejoin the directorial team. Fuqua directed the pilot episode entitled, "The Engram," and is best known for his work with Denzel Washington in films like Training Day, The Equalizer, and the recent Emancipation starring Will Smith. Fuqua has also collaborated with Pratt in the past when he directed both him and Washington in The Magnificent Seven in 2016. So we know that his addition would ensure that the second season will ratchet up the action and big time thrills that the director is known for. We can also confirm that David DiGilo will return to write episodes in the second season. But with no real cliffhanger ending to Season 1, we are left to assume that Reece will undoubtedly have to attain some form of treatment that will send his cancer into remission, or find a complete cure for it, as he was seriously compromised physically by the time the show concluded. From there, he will look to rebuild his life that was shattered by the murder of his wife and daughter, and find new purpose using his skills as a former SEAL.
Constance Wu, Riley Keough and Arlo Mertz
Other than Pratt, Prime Video has not released the rest of the cast, but we are hopeful that Constance Wu will return in her role as the intrepid San Diego-based journalist, Katie Buranek. After initially being skeptical of Reece's idea that he is being framed, she is forced to come around and becomes a useful ally in exposing the dirty little secrets that extend all the way up to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Season 2 will also rely on flashbacks of Reece's wife Lauren and daughter, Lucy (Keough and Mertz, respectively) who were the inspiration for his Rambo-like one man mission to take on the entire Navy in retribution for killing them. They will likely continue to be seen in flashbacks as Reece continues to grieve their loss.