Adapted from a novel of the same name by Jack Carr, The Terminal List is a murky political thriller about a Navy Seal Lt. Commander whose entire platoon is ambushed during a covert mission. “The novel was pursued simultaneously by Christ Pratt [who plays Lt. Commander James Reece] and executive producer and director Antoine Fuqua. After realizing they were competing for the same thing, they decided to team up on it,” said showrunner David DiGilio (Strange Angel, Crossbones).
“As they studied the complex character of James Reece, they decided it required a limited series rather than a feature to fully tell the story.” DiGilio came on board the project at that point as the showrunner. The writer grew up near Washington D.C. and has been a long time fan of the conspiracy genre. His creative influences include Condor, Parallax View and Marathon Man. “These are some of the movies that got me into this business,” he declared.
David DiGiglio. Photo by Elizabeth Lippman
DiGilio also has ties to the military and the CIA through his family which further boosted his interested in writing a revenge/military/espionage thriller. That, coupled with Chris Pratt and Antoine Fuqua’s involvement, made him sign onto The Terminal List. Once he stated his interest, David pitched his take on the material before he was hired.
DiGilio was congizant of not churning out another derivative genre film. “The key is finding the emotional centre of the piece to make it stand out,” he said. He quoted the classic revenge film Man On Fire starring Denzel Washington which was a major influence on The Terminal List.
“What makes Man so unique is the beauty and beast relationship at the heart of it. It explored the duality of man.” Denzel’s character John Creasy is a broken, alcoholic man with deep resentment of the CIA. Lupita Ramos (Dakota Fanning), the girl he’s meant to protect, brings out the humanity in him.
Jack Reece is an incredible look inside the Warrior class and its history. After speaking with several special military operations people, David concluded that one of the hardest things for soldiers to do is to come home. “You bring everything you experienced on the range back with you, but you need to shove it in a little box,” added DiGilio. The inability to leave the war in the war zone drives Reece’s character. This is exacerbated by the way war affects his wife Lauren (Riley Keough) and Lucy (Arlo Mertz). Much of this is told through disjointed flashbacks which is drawn from Jack Carr’s novel.
David DiGilio suggested that the flashback literary device be turned up to illustrate Reece’s disheveled state of mind, “a Navy seal wrestling with opposing sides of himself.” Reece struggles to reconcile his warrior, father, and husband sides. The writers’ room amplified these flashbacks into conflations which straddled multiple timelines in Reece’s life which blend together but he can’t tell them apart. “We’re not throwing a fast ball down the middle because we’re diving into the head a traumatized Navy SEAL.”
At its heart, this is a story about a man trying to create order out of chaos and loss
David DiGilio undertook painstaking research into the machinations of the military. “Authenticity is one of the best ways to honor and respect their sacrifices.” A veteran shouldn’t be pulled out of the story because of badly-represented actions. “It’s that engagement which makes veterans feel seen, heard, and understood. The show will challenge you because it shows an unsanitized version of the military that civilians haven’t seen.”
Opening Scenes
The first act of the pilot episode of every television series must invite the audience to invest emotionally. “We knew that The Terminal List had to begin with a commander who lost a lot of men who he cares deeply about.” The original opening scenes were set in the boat as the intel were heading into Syria for Operation Open Sword. “We realized that in order to root the commander’s connection to his men, we had to speak to the history that led up to this.” They achieved this by quoting a passage from Gideon’s Bible at a military funeral. Jack Carr frequently used such quotes in his writing.
Operation Open Sword was set in Afghanistan in the novel. However, the writers decided to modernize the setting to Syria thinking that the Afghan war will be over by the time of the TV series’ release.
James Reece (Chris Pratt) & Lauren Reece (Riley Keough) Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios
David DiGilio also transferred the above-ground mission to underground tunnels. “Tunnels are a visual metaphor for the brain allowing us to catch glimpses of what Reece sees.” The darkness in the opening set piece is deliberately designed to create confusion that would not have otherwise be noticeable if it was set above ground. “It plays into the notion of Reece being an unreliable narrator, and neither he nor the audience fully understands his pain.”
The government is a slippery antagonist in that they never lie to James Reece. They only allow him to believe a lie. Many government actors genuinely respect Reece’s efforts, but they have ulterior motives to keep him in the dark because of things they have done. “There are people you don’t like in the show that have a humanity to them. We made sure that every bad character was motivated by something inherent in our humanity, be it respect, legacy or brotherhood.” Ironically, these factors are also motivations for the hero warrior class.
Another issue in the writers’ room was figuring out how to dramatize survivors’ guilt. This happens all too frequently in the military. “It’s a very complex emotion. Reece’s revenge tale is a story of survivors’ guilt often illustrated by extreme anger. The anger is directed at both those who have wronged him and his men, and at himself.”
Steven Horn (Jai Courtney). Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios
DiGilio balanced the expected tropes of the genre with clichés in order to differentiate The Terminal List from other government conspiracy thrillers. “Saul Agnan (Sean Gunn) and Steve Horn (Jai Courtney) of Capstone Industries live in the world of Michael Clayton and Michael Mann in movies like Heat. Later, it becomes A Few Good Men, charging for the truth. It gave the show a natural evolution as it moved from episode to episode.”
James Reece unravels as he unravels the deep conspiracy. David cites a familiar trope in revenge tales – those who seek revenge dig two graves. “You’re going to lose yourself to your vengeance.” In the end, all good stories come from good character. “Novels are the most character driven because you’re allowed access and time inside the character’s head. In TV, you meet a character at the start and discover things about them as you peel layers off an onion.”
When writing elaborate action sequences, every action comes from a character’s choice. “The choice must heighten the set piece experience. Audiences must understand, relate and fear for the character taking part.”
The story is mainly told through Reece’s subjective point of view. “There are also some set pieces of an objective point of view such as Katie Buranek (Constance Wu) or Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch), Reece’s buddy, where we learn something much darker about the conspiracy.”
Pacing is an integral part of The Terminal List – balancing action with character. Director Antoine Fuqua came with an expectation of high octane action which must be offset with gentler moments. He turned to Training Day for ideas. “There are moments with two guys in a car where you stop and sit with the character and watch one man observe another.” These tend to be moments of great character revelation.
DiGiglio suggested to Fuqua, “What if the tone of The Terminal List was Antoine meets Alfred Hitchcock?” They also looked at inspiration in movies like Vertigo to capture these moments. The juxtaposition between the two creates a feeling of being unsettled. “It’s okay to be unsettled because that’s where suspense comes from. Allowing yourself to be uncomfortable allows for surprise.” The audience can observe Reece as outsiders and question what you’re going through. “Maybe Reece’s head is messed up, but his heart is driven by real loss and emotion.”
David DiGiglio defines his writing voice as the three Ss – Shakespeare, Spielberg, and Sam Shepard. “I don’t like flowery dialogue. I like dialogue that punches you in the face once in a while.” Watch out! “I like at Spartan scenes where you look at archetypical dynamics. It’s very different from the ‘talky’ writers. Actions and visuals always speak louder than words. Composition and character dynamic is everything so you root them in themes that are as big as your set pieces.”
