The Real Navy SEAL Behind ‘The Terminal List’

Since The Terminal List dropped on Prime Video, fans have been loving the Chris Pratt-led series, and for good reason. With more stories about ex-SEAL James Reece underway, it’s important to look at the visionary mind behind the character to better understand where our hero might be off to next. No, we’re not talking about executive producer Antoine Fuqua or showrunner David DiGilio (though they’re both great) but rather the author whose life experience inspired The Terminal List in the first place. Meet the Navy SEAL behind James Reece, author Jack Carr.

The Terminal List

A former Navy SEAL officer investigates why his entire platoon was ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission.

Release Date

2022-00-00

Creator

David DiGilio

Seasons

1

Streaming Service(s)

Prime Video

Franchise(s)

The Terminal List

‘The Terminal List’ Is Based on Jack Carr’s Real Experiences

Jack Carr always wanted to do two things: serve his country and write thrillers. “From the age of 7, when I first learned what a SEAL was, I knew that I wanted to serve my country in uniform, specifically as a Navy SEAL,” the author told the AARP Veteran Report. For twenty years, Carr served in naval special forces, rising to the rank of Task Unit Commander. “I didn’t wake up one morning and decide I was going to be a SEAL,” he explained to VA News in 2021. “I’ve been preparing for it my whole life.” In reality, Carr comes from a military family. His grandfather served as a Marine Corps pilot in the 1940s, and so it felt natural for the soldier-turned-author to join himself.

According to his official website, Carr “transitioned from an enlisted SEAL sniper, to a junior officer leading assault and sniper teams in Iraq and Afghanistan, to a platoon commander practicing counterinsurgency in the southern Philippines, to commanding a Special Operations Task Unit in the most Iranian influenced section of southern Iraq throughout the tumultuous drawdown of U.S. Forces.” No doubt, his impressive combat resume has aided the author in bringing the story of James Reece to life in an authentic and meaningful way. Hollywood is slowly bringing in real-life veterans to help tell their stories, with other former SEALs such as Mark Owen lending their talents to major television productions (in this case, SEAL Team). “Today, authenticity reigns supreme,” Carr has noted. “For me, coming out of the SEAL teams and having a book that’s rooted in authentic realism of the modern battlefield, that’s what sets me apart.”

But Carr’s military background isn’t the only thing that helps him bring The Terminal List story to life: he’s also an avid reader. Carr’s mother has been a librarian his entire life, and as a result, books were a major force in his development. Over the years, Carr leaned heavily into the thriller genre and gravitated towards authors like Tom Clancy (Jack Ryan), David Morrell (First Blood), and even famed Western author Louis L’Amour (The Sacketts). Morrell’s The Brotherhood of the Rose was a particular influence on Carr, one that’s stuck with him well into adulthood. “It cemented me on my path into the SEAL Teams and also confirmed that I would one day do exactly what I’m doing now,” he told Shelf Awareness in 2020.

Jack Carr Always Wanted Chris Pratt To Play James Reece

When Jack Carr published The Terminal List in 2018, he had no way of knowing how big the character of James Reece was going to be. Now, a half dozen books and a television series later, it’s clear that Carr’s trademark hero is bigger than ever, rising up to the likes of political thriller icons like Jack Ryan, Jason Bourne, and Jack Reacher. “I knew I needed to come out of the gate with something that was just hard-hitting, visceral and primal,” Carr revealed to AARP, and that’s exactly what he did with The Terminal List. But what’s interesting is that Carr always had only one actor in mind to play the role of James Reece in a live-action adaptation of his breakout novel, despite the actor being known best for his role on Parks and Recreation at the time.

Related

Is ‘The Terminal List’ Prequel Series ‘Dark Wolf’ Based on a Book?

Before James Reece tracked down those on his list, he and Ben Edwards had other thrilling adventures.

Yes, Chris Pratt was always Jack Carr’s #1 pick to play James Reece on the screen, and so the version of the character we get in The Terminal List series is more authentic than you might think. “[Years ago] I sat down with a buddy of mine, Jared Shaw of the SEAL Teams, he was getting out and moving into the private sector…so I made some introductions for him,” Carr noted on his YouTube channel. “Five years later, after my first novel came out, he reached out and wanted to give it to a friend of his. And that friend ended up being Chris Pratt.” That may be how The Terminal List series got started on Amazon Prime Video (Pratt optioned the novel before it even came out, starting a bidding war between himself and Antoine Fuqua before they decided to work together), but that wasn’t what piqued Carr’s interest in Pratt originally.

“[Pratt] was the person I thought of playing the role,” Carr continued. “That’s before Guardians of the Galaxy, before Avengers, before Jurassic World…” The author explained that it was Pratt’s small part in the Kathryn Bigelow film Zero Dark Thirty that cemented Pratt as Reece in his mind. “For some reason, I was like, ‘That’s the guy,'” Carr said in an interview. “So I thought, ‘That’s who I need. I need someone who is a likable guy, who’s going to invest in this, and I heard he was like pro-military and that sort of thing… And Chris Pratt’s the guy.” No doubt, Chris Pratt is part of why The Terminal List succeeds so well as a series, and why fans are excited about James Reece’s upcoming adventures.

Jack Carr Isn’t the Only Veteran Tied to ‘The Terminal List’

Of course, that other former SEAL, Jared Shaw, is more than just the guy who introduced Jack Carr and Chris Pratt, he’s also an actor himself. Beginning his career in 2016, Shaw appeared in nine episodes of the History Channel series The Warfighters before appearing in an episode of SEAL Team and most recently in Taylor Sheridan‘s recent Paramount+ thriller series Special Ops: Lioness. From there, he began to work alongside his buddy Chris Pratt, appearing as Tank in the 2021 Amazon sci-fi film The Tomorrow War. Before that, he was a stuntman who had previously worked with Pratt on the Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises.

But that initial introduction between Carr and Pratt set off a chain reaction for Shaw, who was promptly cast as Ernest “Boozer” Vickers in The Terminal List and set to return in the upcoming prequel series. Shaw isn’t just an actor this time around, though — he’s a producer as well. Shaw co-produced the first season of The Terminal List and is listed as an executive producer on The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. Additionally, he produced and starred in the Samantha Win-led short film Committed in 2020 and is also slated to appear in the upcoming A24 film Civil War.

What’s Next For Jack Carr and ‘The Terminal List’?

Exciting things are happening in the world that Jack Carr created. Along with the upcoming Dark Wolf prequel series centering on Taylor Kitsch‘s Ben Edwards (a series that will not be based on any of Carr’s books), a second season of The Terminal List has been ordered with Pratt returning as James Reece in a story based on Carr’s second novel, True Believer. In fact, Tom Hopper was recently cast as fan-favorite Raife Hastings for the Dark Wolf prequel, and will likely return for Season 2 of the flagship series as well. From there, the narrative will likely continue into stories like Savage Son, The Devil’s Hand, and so on, but it doesn’t seem like either Pratt or Carr are slowing down. With a new James Reece novel coming out every year (2024’s Red Sky Mourning just arrived on May 10) there is plenty of Carr-written material for showrunner David DiGilio to work from.

The Terminal List is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Prime Video