‘The Terminal List’ Season 2 Ending Explained: Who Lives, Who Dies, & What Happens to James Reece?

James Reece (Chris Pratt) may have cleared his name, but his troubles are far from over in The Terminal List Season 2. After being pulled back into the world of counterterrorism, the former Navy SEAL finds himself caught in another international conspiracy involving corrupt CIA operatives, Russian ultranationalists, and a deadly assassination plot.

By the time the season finale, “Fathers and Sons,” rolls around, Reece has lost another close friend, uncovered a plot to overthrow the Russian government, and discovered that someone has been targeting him for reasons that go back decades. So, who is really behind the conspiracy, what does it have to do with Reece’s father, and where does the finale leave him? Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Terminal List Season 2 finale.

What is The Terminal List Season 2 about?

The Terminal List Season 2 follows former Navy SEAL James Reece (Pratt), who remains a fugitive after avenging the murders of his wife and daughter and exposing a government conspiracy that left him with a terminal brain tumor. Eight months later, Reece has found refuge at a wildlife reserve in Mozambique, where he attempts to rebuild his life. However, when his whereabouts are discovered, the CIA offers him a presidential pardon and life-saving surgery in exchange for helping capture Mohammed “Mo” Farooq (Dar Salim), a former ally suspected of joining a deadly Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

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The investigation takes Reece across the Middle East, where he reunites with CIA officer Freddy Strain (Gabriel Luna) and encounters Jules Landry (Luke Hemsworth), a former Marine now overseeing counterterrorism operations. Reece initially refuses to believe that Mo has betrayed his country, but a series of attacks involving American military technology suggests otherwise. When Reece finally confronts Mo, he learns that Landry has been manipulating intelligence operations and supplying information to the terrorists, raising questions about who is really behind the attacks.

Meanwhile, journalist Katie Buranek (Constance Wu) and Reece’s longtime friend Raife Hastings (Tom Hopper) are conducting their own investigation into American weapons shipments intended for Ukraine that have mysteriously ended up in terrorist hands. Their findings lead them to a secret intelligence program called Kestrel and corrupt government officials galore.

What is Kestrel?

Kestrel is a defunct CIA program originally designed to arm pro-democracy militias in hostile countries, beginning with Iran. The program was abandoned because of its risks, but someone secretly revived it to divert American weapons intended for Ukraine into the hands of terrorists.

Katie and Raife uncover the program while investigating missing military shipments. Their investigation eventually leads to CIA analyst Oliver Grey (Jeremy Bobb), who is working for Russian ultranationalist Ivan Zarkov, a.k.a. the Colonel.

How does The Terminal List Season 2 end?

After spending much of Season 2 hunting down a terrorist network responsible for a series of international attacks, Reece discovers that the conspiracy reaches far beyond Al-Qaeda. The operation is connected to a Russian ultranationalist known as the Colonel, who has been working with corrupt CIA operatives to destabilize the international political landscape.

The conspiracy comes to a head in Episode 7 when Russian President Drozdov is assassinated during a peace summit in Odesa, Ukraine. CIA officer Freddy Strain is also killed while trying to stop the attack. Although Reece and his team prevent further casualties, the mastermind behind the assassination remains at large.

Episode 8, “Fathers and Sons,” picks up with Reece returning to the United States, where he receives a presidential pardon and the opportunity to undergo surgery for his brain tumor. However, he remains determined to find those responsible for Freddy’s death.

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Working with Raife, Reece realizes that the assassination wasn’t simply a terrorist attack. Both snipers targeted the Russian president, suggesting that the operation was actually a coup designed to install a new leader. Their investigation points to Vasili Adrenov (Costa Ronin), the Russian oligarch who owns Voltstreem Media, where Katie works.

Adrenov has been using the publication to spread misinformation blaming the CIA and Ukraine for the assassination. Katie, who previously trusted Adrenov, discovers that he has been manipulating her investigation into the missing American weapons. With help from Adrenov’s assistant Yana, she connects him to CIA agent Grey, a mole within the agency working for the Colonel.

Reece, Raife, and their team travel to Ukraine to intercept Adrenov before he can reach Russian protection. After a confrontation at an abandoned factory, Reece finds Adrenov wounded and demands the identity of the sniper who killed Freddy.

Adrenov reveals that Freddy wasn’t the intended target. The sniper was supposed to kill Reece as revenge for something his father had done to Russia. Before Reece can get more answers, he kills Adrenov with his hatchet. Reece and Raife escape as Russian forces arrive.

What happens in the epilogue?

One month later, the immediate political crisis has eased, but the Colonel, Grey, and the surviving sniper remain at large.

Back at Langley, Reece finally learns why he was targeted. In 1972, his father, Thomas Reece, killed two Russian military advisers during an operation in Vietnam. One of those men was Victor Zarkov, the Colonel’s brother and Adrenov’s father. The Colonel, whose real name is Ivan Zarkov, spent decades planning his revenge. His assassination plot was designed to place his nephew Adrenov in power, with Thomas Reece’s son there to witness the family’s return to prominence.

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Reece also discovers that his father never abandoned his family as he had believed. Thomas continued working for the CIA until he was assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1997. His name appears on the agency’s memorial wall alongside Freddy’s.

However, Reece notices something else in the evidence: Grey is wearing his father’s watch. He realizes Grey was present when Thomas died, suggesting he knows more about his father’s final mission.

Reece later visits Katie, who has completed her book about him, but instead of releasing it, she gives it to him and opts to return to field reporting where she will do the most good.

Katie encourages Reece to finally undergo cancer treatment rather than allow his illness to prevent him from finding the answers he wants. Reece also places his $4 million reward money in a trust for Freddy’s son, Samuel.

The season ends with Reece finally undergoing an MRI in preparation for surgery, giving himself a chance at survival. Meanwhile, Grey has settled into a new home in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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Although Adrenov is dead and the immediate threat has passed, the final scene leaves Reece with unfinished business involving Grey, the Colonel, the second sniper who killed Freddy, and the truth about his father’s death.

Will there be a prequel about Thomas Reece?

Chatting to TV Insider, we asked if there was a chance that the story of the elder Reece will head to the small screen the same way Ben Edward (Taylor Kitch) received his own saga.  “There happens to be a book called Cry Havoc that people can go to that talks about Tom Reese’s early days in Vietnam, 1968. Takes you through the full year of 1968, January of ’68 to January of ’69, and it’s really historical fiction,” said author Jack Carr. “So maybe we’ll get that, and maybe we’ll do something else. Who knows? There’s a lot out there to mine.”

What do the creators say about a third season?

“If we’re lucky enough to get a third season, Book 3, Savage Sun, sits out there,” said showrunner David DiGilio.

“It’s probably the most popular book,” explained Carr. “That one explored the dark side of man through the dynamic of hunter and hunted. So that’s the theme to that novel. And for some reason, I think that theme is just so primal. So is revenge. But for some reason, seeing that dark side of man played out and have that be the exploration of that book, and now perhaps maybe a season if we get one going forward, and that’s an interesting one to explore. But there’s something within each of us, in our DNA, I think, that just connects with that storyline because it is so, so primal and visceral and savage. We’ll see.”

The Terminal List, Season 2, Now Streaming, Prime Video