Man on Fire

Netflix

Netflix is forever in pursuit of its answer to Amazon Prime Video’s Reacher, and while it’s had a few contenders over the years, many have faded (The Night Agent, most recently), so they’re still on the hunt. So, how about John Creasy in Man on Fire, the new action series and book adaptation, currently planted on its top 10 list? There’s an update on season 2 from the star of the show.

This time around, it’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II playing the role that Denzel Washington previously had in the Tony Scott movie, but this is Man on Fire iteration is a TV series, not a movie, and not pitched as a miniseries either. Abdul-Mateen was asked by Screenrant about a possible season 2, and had this to say:

“Could be him for a long time,” he said. “Yeah, I actually have thought about it, which means that you got to find a good reason to do it, and you got to really, at least, like it. I always have to love everything I do, but you’ve got to at least like it. And this John Creasy is an incredible character. This has been an amazing opportunity, and who knows what’s going to happen with it? I don’t really find it beneficial to myself to think about that so much. But I’m excited about what we’ve made thus far, and excited to put that out into the world. And anything else happens, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

One big difference between Man on Fire and Reacher is that critics love Reacher, giving it a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, and not so much Man on Fire, with a rotten 58%. Fans give Man on Fire a better 68%, but that’s not as good as Reacher’s 80%. But the main things that fundamentally matter to Netflix are 1) viewership, 2) people actually watching start to finish, and 3) budget. If those align, then sure, season 2 should be on the way.

However, to continue the Reacher comparison, Man on Fire also has already-existing source material to continue. AJ Quinnell’s first Creasy novel was in 1980, and there are five books in total: Man on Fire, The Perfect Kill, The Blue Ring, Black Horn and Message From Hell, all pretty well-rated and high-selling. They were released over a 16-year span from 1980 to 1996. So, if they want to pull the trigger on this, they have The Perfect Kill ready to go next.

I do wonder if there’s any complication here, given that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars in Wonder Man, one of the very few MCU Disney Plus series to get a second season alongside Daredevil: Born Again and Loki. That’s not an insignificant commitment, and the fact that the underwatched and very underrated show was renewed at all in that context is a miracle. But the #2-ranked Man on Fire is also something he’s clearly not going to let go of either, if he can. My guess is that season 2 does happen, but we may not know for a while.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.