Sabrina Lantos/Prime
Frances Neagley has a unique passion for breakfast cereal, and Maria Sten has explained why it’s so fitting for her character. Newly headlining “Neagley” on Prime Video after playing the sharp-witted private investigator in the first three seasons of “Reacher,” Sten now has the chance to showcase Neagley’s personality on an even deeper level.
Fans of “Reacher” and its spin-off series know that Neagley adores cereal. She chows down on a bowl of cereal on numerous occasions across the two shows and even wears T-shirts with Kellogg’s Froot Loops, Corn Flakes, and other cereal brand logos on them. In fact, Neagley loves cereal so much that she once ate some next to a dying hit man. In a recent interview with Decider, Sten shared that she believes Neagley’s abnormal childhood spent working and attending to her father’s health issues in the aftermath of her mother’s death contributed to her cereal obsession.
“I think Neagley, she has a little bit of a stunted development,” Sten said. “So I think for me, looking at Neagley, is now that she is adult and secure and can call the shots of her life and she has financial security and isn’t poor anymore, she sort of allows herself the pleasures of childhood that she didn’t get to have back then. So the T-shirts, the Looney Tunes watch, the cereal. I think it’s in a way cute, but also it’s a nostalgia thing for her, of just indulging in these childish things that she doesn’t get to have.”
Like Neagley, Maria Sten is a cereal lover
Sabrina Lantos/Prime
On a surface level, it doesn’t appear Maria Sten has a ton in common with Neagley, who was a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army before joining Jack Reacher’s (Alan Ritchson) crime-fighting team. Yet, just like the character she plays on TV, Sten enjoys a good bowl of crunchy cereal.
In 2024, the Danish-born star spoke to TheWrap about her history with the breakfast staple. She even has a go-to option that closely aligns with Neagley’s cereal of choice. “I grew up on cereal. I never ate breakfast as a kid. But when I did, it would be cereal,” Sten said. “And then at the time, it was Cocoa Puffs. Actually, we have a Danish version, which is these cocoa shells. And I don’t know what they’re called in English. So that would be my version. I ate so much of that stuff. Neagley likes Cocoa Puffs the best. She gets to eat basically all the cereals, but I think Cocoa Puffs are my favorite.”
Prime Video has already renewed “Neagley” for Season 2, so fans can probably expect to see Sten’s character eating more cereal and perhaps donning some new cereal-themed attire as she continues to investigate threats and take down dangerous criminals.