All Three Strike Back Reboots Explained (& Why They Happened)

Here’s every era of action series Strike Back explained. Strike Back is based on the novel of the same name by Chris Ryan, and follows the various shootouts and car chases of British unit Section 20 as they take down terrorist groups. The show essentially carries the spirit of a 1980s action movie and has won fans for its impressive setpieces and the chemistry between its cast members. The series was also famous for swiping cast members from Game Of Thrones to play guest villains.

Strike Back ran for eight seasons, though it went through three distinct eras. The first season debuted in 2010 and was led by Richard Armitage as John Porter and The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln as his boss. This six-episode season saw Porter track down a terrorist group while uncovering the truth behind the deaths of his men during a raid years before. Strike Back proved to be a hit and was anchored by Armitage’s charisma. For a British-produced series, it also did a good job with the action scenes.

Strike Back ended on a cliffhanger for Porter, and a second season was soon greenlit. Season 2 Project Dawn would hasten in some major changes, however, with Cinemax coming on as co-producers with Sky, while Armitage was unable to commit due to signing on for The Hobbit trilogy. He returned for a cameo in the first episode where he’s killed by the new villain, and the show then became something of a buddy comedy between Philip Winchester’s Stonebridge and Sullivan Stapleton’s Scott.

While it was a shame to lose Armitage, the Scott/Stonebridge version of Strike Back is easily the most beloved. The actors have great chemistry, and the show dialed up the globetrotting scope and action in a big way. While some seasons were stronger than others, it was never less than entertaining, and also featured some memorable villains, like Charles Dance’s Conrad Knox or Michelle Yeoh’s Li-Na. The show first came to end with season 5 – though viewers didn’t have to wait long for the next iteration.

The final era of Strike Back began with 2017’s Retribution, which saw Section 20 regroup with four new lead characters. There’s Mac (Warren Brown), Gracie (Alin Sumarwata), Wyatt (Daniel MacPherson, The Shannara Chronicles) and Roxanne McKee’s Reynolds. It took audiences a little time to warm to the new group following the exit of Scott and Stonebridge, and it didn’t help Retribution is arguably the weakest season of the entire show. That said, it found its footing around the midway point, and the next series Revolution was a considerable improvement.

Roxanne McKee didn’t return for this series, which also added Jamie Bamber’s new boss Coltrane to the ensemble. Better writing and tweaking what didn’t work about the previous season made for a much better show, and the Mac/Gracie/Wyatt Strike Back would run for another two seasons before ending – once again – in 2020. The show appears to be done for the time being, though it will no doubt reboot itself once again in the future. There’s also talk of a Scott and Stonebridge Strike Back movie, though it has yet to happen.

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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