How To Watch The Jesse Stone Movies In Order (By Release Date & Chronologically)

Summary

The Jesse Stone movies, led by Tom Selleck, follow a former L.A. homicide detective solving crimes in a small Massachusetts town, with each installment offering familiar crime drama elements and satisfying conclusions.
While the recommended viewing order is release order, some viewers may prefer to watch the films in chronological order for a more linear storytelling experience, starting with Jesse Stone: Night Passage and ending with Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise.

The Jesse Stone franchise consists of nine feature films, and viewers who are new to the series might be wondering what's the best way to watch the Jesse Stone movies in order. While some detective series' installments work as one-off or standalone viewing experiences, successfully watching the adaptations of Robert B. Parker's novels benefits from a more intentional approach. With eight films from CBS (2005–12) and another movie from the Hallmark Channel (2015), the Jesse Stone series boasts a lot of characters and lore.

Magnum P.I. original series star Tom Selleck helms all nine films in the franchise. In Stone Cold, the first Jesse Stone movie, Selleck's titular character is a former Los Angeles homicide detective who relocates to small-town Massachusetts after being fired from the force for his habitual use of alcohol. Full of genre tropes, the made-for-TV crime dramas offer up familiar plot beats and satisfying conclusions, both of which speak to its success as a long-running, dependable franchise.

Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost Reveals Why Jesse NEEDS Cases To Function

Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost finds Jesse forced into early retirement and drinking more, proving he needs his work to feel worthwhile.

How To Watch Jesse Stone Movies In Release Order

The Order Tom Sellect's Movies Were Released

Set in the fictional Paradise, Massachusetts, the Jesse Stone movies follow the titular big-city transplant as he solves small-town murders. Even so, the stakes are anything but slight. While Stone Cold sees Jesse piecing together a string of serial murders, other installments force the police chief to confront Boston mobsters, arrogant fellow officers, and cold cases that could mar the town's reputation. One of the best ways to watch the Jesse Stone movies is as CBS (and, later, Hallmark) intended.

For fans looking to follow Jesse Stone's journey, a release-order viewing is as follows:

Stone Cold (February 20, 2005)
Jesse Stone: Night Passage (January 15, 2006)
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (April 30, 2006)
Jesse Stone: Sea Change (May 22, 2007)
Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (March 1, 2009)
Jesse Stone: No Remorse (May 9, 2010)
Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost (May 22, 2011)
Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt (May 20, 2012)
Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise (October 18, 2015)

What Happens In The Jesse Stone Movies

A Closer Look at Jesse Stone's Investigative Exploits

Jesse Stone sitting at a bar between a man and a woman in Innocents Lost.

The Jesse Stone series follows the eponymous police officer. Originally a homicide detective for the LAPD, Stone was fired due to his issues with alcoholism, problems that plague him throughout the series. With nowhere to go, Stone ends up in Paradise, Massachusetts, a small coastal town north of Boston.

There he successfully interviews to be the new police chief, primarily because the corrupt town council thinks controlling a has-been cop with a drinking habit will be easy. Much to their surprise, and even to his own, Stone turns out to be a competent and just police officer, solving many small-time and large-scale crimes throughout the series.

Along with his trusty dog companion "Reggie" whom he meets in the first movie, Stone works to solve violent murders and rid his town and the greater Massachusetts area of corruption. In the seventh film, Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost, Stone is replaced as police chief by the son-in-law of the town council president and is forced to work as a private investigator.

However, the very next movie, Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt, sees the detective reinstated. Stone lives a simple life throughout the series and by the latest film, Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise, just about the only thing that’s changed for the man is his new dog, "Steve".

How To Watch Jesse Stone Movies In Chronological Order

The Ultimate Guide to Proper Viewing

Of course, release order is just one way to watch the Jesse Stone films. Some viewers prefer to watch the Jesse Stone movies in chronological order to avoid jumping around in time too much. For example, the 2005 film Stone Cold sets up Jesse Stone's story as a New England-based police chief, but it isn't necessarily the one viewers need to watch first. Despite being broadcast first by CBS, Stone Cold takes place after 2006's Jesse Stone: Night Passage.

For fans looking to follow a more accurate franchise timeline, here are the Jesse Stone movies in order of chronology:

Jesse Stone: Night Passage
Stone Cold
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
Jesse Stone: Thin Ice
Jesse Stone: No Remorse
Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost
Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt
Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise

Should You Watch Jesse Stone: Night Passage Before Stone Cold?

A Dive Deeper Into Jesse Stone's World

Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone drinking at a bar

Parker's Night Passage is also the first novel in the Jesse Stone series — both in terms of release and chronology. Given that Jesse is an archetypal character who's reminiscent of hard-boiled noir detectives, his backstory isn't all that sprawling.

Tom Selleck received an offer for the part of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark during a similar period. Regrettably, because of conflicting schedules, he had to decline the opportunity.

While working as an LAPD homicide detective, he's caught drinking on the job. While Stone Cold provides context, Night Passage starts with Jesse's post-firing departure. A methodical, well-directed prequel, Night Passage is grounded by Selleck's compelling performance, making it the stronger film and, at times, a better way to kick off a Jesse Stone movie series viewing.

Will There Be A Tenth Jesse Stone Movie?

Hope Springs Eternal: Tom Selleck's Revelation of a Tenth Film

Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone in Lost in Paradise

In a 2022 interview with TV Express, Tom Selleck revealed that he's writing a tenth and final Jesse Stone film,

"I’m still working on it! It isn’t the same cumulative narrative anymore. As time has passed, I’m older and the Jesse Stone audience needs to account for that. He’s at a different part of his life. That’s interesting, but that’s not the script we started to do after we finished the ninth movie. We have a deal with Hallmark Channel, but they’ve moved on to [other] shows."

The ninth film in the Jesse Stone franchise left plenty of runway for future movies to be made, but from Selleck’s answer, it sounds like, as much as audiences are clamoring for more Jesse Stone, they are still a ways off from seeing any more additions to the franchise.

Robert B. Parker, the author of the Jesse Stone novels, passed away in 2010, but other writers continued the story of the detective. With this catalog of books, there are many more Jesse Stone stories for Selleck to star in — and write scripts for.