‘The Terminal List’ Creator Battles ‘Wake’ Critics

Chris Pratt made headlines this week after celebrating the success of his Amazon Prime Video series The Terminal List, which debuted on July 1 to miserable critical reviews. The show has proved a hit with viewers, with Nielsen reporting that “The Terminal List” was watched 1.6 billion minutes in its first week. Pratt celebrated the show’s popularity by posting a Daily Mail article on his Instagram Story with the caption: “The New ‘Yellowstone’: Chris Pratt’s new Navy thriller ‘The Terminal List’ defies the scathing reviews of the woke Critics and skyrocketed with 1.6 billion minutes of streams.”

The Terminal List is based on a book by former Navy SEAL Jack Carr, who serves as executive producer of the series. Carr recently told Fox News (via Mediaite) that critics have postponed the show just because “there’s not this woke stuff that’s being shoved in.” The writer claimed the series was neither politically driven nor “woke” or “counter-woke,” but he argued that it had a purpose on its back as it didn’t “promote” critics’ agendas.

Carr had particular trouble with The Daily Beast critic Nick Schager, who called The Terminal List a “far-right revenge fantasy gone haywire.” diversity also panned the series, calling it a “military vanity project for a charisma-depleted Chris Pratt.”

“We don’t mention right, left, conservative, liberal, none of those things are mentioned at all,” Carr said. “The criticism from The Daily Beast in particular was pretty mean. But they see an American flag and get upset. Or they see someone who knows guns and has a mindset that is holding those in power accountable for their actions, and they just get a little discouraged.”

“We didn’t make it for critics,” Car added. “What was important to me and Chris Pratt was that we created something that would speak to the members of the military who have been going deep over the last 20 years, so they can sit down and say, ‘These guys have tough worked and made show that speaks to me.’”

The way Carr sees it, critics hate the show for avoiding a “woke” agenda. As the author said, “There’s no such thing as ‘woke’ or ‘anti-woke,’ but just because there isn’t that ‘woke’ stuff thrown in, it’s perceived—at least by critics—as becoming theirs Don’t promote agenda they will hate it.”

The Terminal List is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The series co-stars are Constance Wu, Taylor Kitsch, Riley Keough, Arlo Mertz and Jeanne Tripplehorn.