This article contains a description of a graphic death scene, plus spoilers for Lee Child’s Persuder book – which is being used as the basis for Reacher season 3.

The death of Robert Patrick’s Shane Langston in the Reacher season 2 finale was certainly one of the most memorable scenes in the Prime show so far, but the coming demise of season 3’s villain will make Patrick’s exit look tame by comparison. Patrick’s role as the main antagonist in the Reacher season 2 cast allowed him to play a truly horrific human being, but he ultimately got what he deserved at the hands of Alan Ritchson’s title character. However, Reacher season 2’s ending won’t hold onto the plaudit of featuring the show’s darkest death for long.

Like the previous two batches of episodes, Reacher season 3 will be based on one of the many Jack Reacher novels written by Lee Child. The seventh book in the series, Persuader, has been selected as the source material for the coming installment of the live-action adaptation. As such, its pages contain key moments that are almost certainly going to make it into Prime’s version of the story. One moment in particular will be especially gruesome.

Reacher Season 3’s Villain Death Is A Lot More Brutal Than Langston’s Helicopter Fall

Brian Tee’s season 3 villain will meet a graphic end

Reacher hurls Langstone from the rear of an in-flight helicopter at the end of Reacher season 2, and all while the story’s villain suddenly loses his bravado and begins to beg desperately for his life. Avenging his fallen comrades, Reacher’s actions are simply a matter of an eye for an eye, as Langstone utilizes the same method when sanctioning Tony Swan’s execution in the season 2 opener. In Persuader, Reacher’s new adversary meets his end in a far more grisly fashion – with a chisel being slid into the back of his head, impaling his brain.

“I put the flat of one hand on the back of his head. Took my chisel out of my shoe and slid it in behind his ear and up into his brain, slowly, inch by inch. He was dead before it was halfway in, but I kept it going until it was buried all the way to the hilt. I left it there. I wiped the handle with the towel from my pocket and then I spread the towel over his head and stood up, wearily.” – Persuader, Lee Child.

The unfortunate villain on the receiving end of Jack Reacher’s violence will be played by Brian Tee in the Reacher season 3 cast. So, Tee’s character has a rough and painful future ahead of him if the show recreates this moment from the book. Prime’s adaptation hasn’t shied away from Reacher’s signature brutality so far, so there’s no reason to believe that Tee’s Reacher character won’t experience the same fate as his literary counterpart.

Reacher Season 3’s Final Battle Will Be Very Different To Season 2’s Midair Fight

Quinn’s actual death is more likely to happen onscreen

Langstone’s death is darkly poetic, but basically it was just Reacher ending his opponent’s life in the same way Patrick’s character killed Swan. It wasn’t up close and personal, and neither Reacher nor the audience witnessed Langstone’s death firsthand. It would have been the fear on the way down or the impact with the ground that killed him, not Reacher directly. Quinn’s death won’t have that same degree of separation if the source material is honored. Instead, Reacher season 3’s bad guy will have his demise intimately chronicled.