Actor Chris Pratt says there’s a large audience for military-themed entertainment that doesn’t shy away from patriotism, and he credits that appetite for the success of his Amazon Prime series “The Terminal List.”
Speaking on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, Pratt said the show’s first season found viewers who had been overlooked by much of Hollywood. “It connected with an audience that … we kind of look at it as it’s a bit of an underserved audience. We just wanted to make an unapologetic, patriotic, kick-ass action show and the audience really turned up,” Pratt said.
Pratt, who plays a Navy SEAL in the series, acknowledged he has no personal combat background. “Everything I learned about combat, I learned from watching movies and stuff. I have never been to Fallujah or anything like that,” he said.
Instead, the show leans on former special operators for realism. Pratt said 17 veterans work on the production, including two or three special operators serving as executive producers. “We just have Navy SEALS all over the place, it’s really cool,” he said.
That involvement, Pratt said, is what gives the show credibility with people who’ve actually served. “These guys have a real eye for combat based on their experience and it’s really authentic … Veterans will come up and say, ‘You know, I served. I did a couple deployments and the action, the behavior, the tactics, the jargon, the decorum, all of it is really authentic,’ and I think that’s why people like it,” he said.
The series is adapted from a book series centered on a Navy SEAL. Pratt described the first season as “this dark psychological thriller about a Navy SEAL who gets vengeance on these people who are responsible for a conspiracy that, you know, wiped out his platoon and killed his family and gave him a tumor in his brain,” ending with the character exacting that revenge before “sailing away.”
Season two takes the story in a different direction, Pratt said. “The second [season] based on the book becomes more of like a globe-trotting global spy thriller. It’s like — it’s about espionage. It’s international,” he said.
Season 2 of “The Terminal List” premiered on Prime on Oct. 21.
