Hollywood has a long and storied history of turning action movie characters into pop culture icons, but that doesn’t mean movie studios and production houses are necessarily great with realistic action. In fact, sometimes the end results are downright ridiculous. Chris Pratt was determined to present a more realistic and grounded version with his new series The Terminal List. In fact, everyone involved was so committed to realism that their collective mantra was “No Hollywood Bullshit.”
The Terminal List debuted this weekend on Amazon Prime, perfectly timed for 4th Of July celebrations, and in the lead-up, Chris Pratt repeatedly talked about how real he wanted the show to feel. In an interview with TV Insider, the Guardians Of The Galaxy star told the outlet about the No Hollywood Bullshit mantra and referenced his collaborators who worked with him to ensure authenticity.
The author of the source material, Jack Carr, is a former Navy SEAL. Jared Shaw, who Pratt shadowed for his role in the terrific Zero Dark Thirty, acts in the show and has an extensive military background. Both in front of and behind the camera, Pratt reportedly made sure a lot of veterans were involved to lend authenticity to the project and make sure every scene passed the “sniff test.” Here’s a portion of his direct quote…
We made sure each episode passed the “sniff test” with our trifecta of special operators, Jack, Jared, and Ray (Mendoza) another former SEAL and our military adviser- as well as Max Adams, our writer, who was a Ranger. Our mantra was: no Hollywood bullshit. Make it real. But ultimately what was the most important is that Reece’s actions be motivated by a real emotional through-line, that this connection between James Reece and his wife, his daughter, and his men resonate through the entire series.
The Terminal List is an 8 episode series that follows Lieutenant Commander James Reece. After his Navy SEAL platoon is ambushed, he returns home and struggles to remember exactly what happened and what role he may or may not have played in it. His ensuing investigation leads to more questions, and he begins to fear for the safety of himself and his family.
In addition to Chris Pratt, The Terminal List features Taylor Kitsch, Constance Wu, Riley Keough, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Pratt’s real life brother in law Patrick Schwarzenegger. The last of those stars is fired up about all the military connections too. He dropped a combination 4th of July and celebration post of The Terminal List on his Instagram. You can check it out below…
All 8 episodes of The Terminal List are currently available on Amazon Prime to binge watch the whole thing. Early reviews from critics haven’t been the strongest, but the early response from fans has been much more positive.
