Check out the full video interview below!
ROHAN: Antoine, you've done a number of projects with military ties - Shooter, The Equalizer, Tears of the Sun - what was it about this story that piqued your interest?
ANTOINE: Well, Jack's writing, really, I read the book, and I got excited about Reece's journey. Then, we met Dave, and he came on board, and he had a psychological bend to it, which is important to me, the whole, coming home side of things, and the military men who serve, men and women who serve. So, I got excited about dealing with that in a different way. The coming home part, where you’re confused about what may have happened on your last mission. So, I got excited about that. And, that was my way in.
ROHAN: Jack, this was really your baby, what were you looking for when you were seeking people to adapt your material?
JACK: Yeah, well, I knew exactly who I wanted to adapt it as soon as I started typing this, while I was still in the Navy, and no one had ever heard of me before, and that was Antoine, directing and bringing this to life and it was Chris Pratt starring. So, it was very natural for me to think in those terms, it was very natural, as a child of the 80s to think of this as a film eventually, and then as I was writing, things started to shift in television, and film, and you got to see these great stories being brought to television that were played out over eight to ten episodes.
And so I thought this story really lends itself to that kind of a medium to tell this story, to develop the characters, to bring the big screen action to that, and then to add this psychological twist that Dave pitched and thought about, and we all loved, and really differentiates this from other shows that are out there.
ROHAN: Dave, what were the conversations like when you were deciding on whether this book should become a show or movie?
DAVE: Thank you for that question. Anytime you're adapting a great piece of material, there are certain things you have to take into consideration. The book is very much in James Reece's point of view. We realized early that if we did a straight adaptation, we would literally kill Chris Pratt, no actor could do that much work. So, we knew that we had to have other point of view characters who could carry B, C and D storylines, and then we knew that it used to say this, you have Chris Pratt, and so we knew that those people had to be as compelling on the screen, as Chris.
We were very fortunate to have a movie star level cast come into this ensemble and then really the story at its essential is about compulsion. Right? Reece is compelled by what has happened to him on his path. So, we knew that those other characters had to have a similar level of compulsion. So, Katie is driven by the truth and accountability. We have this incredible character that we introduce Agent Tony Leung, played by JD Pardo, driven by justice. What is justice in his mind? So, we had the ability through these awesome actors to deliver incredible layers to the overall tale and still honor what made the book great.
Based on the best-selling novel by Jack Carr, The Terminal List follows James Reece (Chris Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life, but the lives of those he loves.