Reacher EP Shares Surprising Story Behind That Killer Terminator 2 Nod

“I paid off the concierge, he ID’d Neagley as checking in under ‘Sarah Connor.’ Who’s Sarah Connor?“

“I don’t give a s—t.”

That Reacher Season 2 exchange, between henchman Saropian and boss man Shane Langston, hit the bull’s-eye with many a Terminator 2 film fan, seeing as Robert Patrick aka the T-1000 himself, plays Langston.

But before you give props to Reacher showrunner Nick Santora and his team of writers for putting that wonderfully meta quip in Patrick’s mouth, there’s something you need to know….

During TVLine’s Season 2 post mortem Q&A with Santora, we asked how the Terminator 2 nod came about — was it, perhaps, Patrick’s own idea? Or if not, how did he feel about the callback?

“You’re asking the question I don’t want to answer…,” Santora replied, chuckling, “because everyone thinks we’re so smart and funny for doing it, but it was in there before Robert Patrick came in. I don’t want to lie; that’s the truth. “

Back in May, it was reported that Rory Cochrane (24, CSI: Miami) had to bow out of the role of NYPD vet-turned-New Age security chief Langston; Patrick in turn was tapped to play Season 2’s Big Bad.

“Because of some scheduling stuff, we had to recast,” Santora explains, “so I called up Ripper and said, ‘I know this is late notice — like, you’re going to need to be on a plane tomorrow — but do you want to go to Toronto and play with some really talented actors?’ And he didn’t even ask to see a script, because I had worked with him on Scorpion for years. He’s such a hard worker and he’s so freaking talented, and I don’t know why but he just jumped in.”

Santora went on to share that he had “actually kind of forgot about the Sarah Connor line” even after the recast, “and then when I was getting the dailies I was like, ‘Oh, man.’

“I really did have a thought, if I’m being a 100-percent truthful, ‘Do I need to cut this line?’ Because it’s a phone call, so I could have easily put something else in [Saropian’s mouth] and just show the other side of the call. But I figured that fans might enjoy it. It’s such an iconic movie franchise and Robert Patrick is such an iconic actor, so let’s have a little fun!”