The Amazon Jack Ryan series, led by John Krasinski, could be classed as starting strongly but tailing off quickly towards the end. It didn’t adapt any of the books, but took parts from all of them and blended them into new stories.
Which is kind of insane, when you think about it. Tom Clancy wrote a series of novels with an entertaining arc for almost all of the characters. The biggest issue with the books was that there was too much detail in many of them for a 120-minute movie, so television adaptions would have been ideal. This is especially true now we live in a second golden age of television where streaming means that television no longer feels small and cheap compared to movies.
So let’s put the Jack Ryan series down as a missed opportunity.
It turns out it is not done yet. John Krasinski will return as CIA analyst Jack Ryan, and this time it will be for a feature film from Amazon MGM Studios, Paramount, and Skydance. Wendell Pierce will also return as Greer, with Michael Kelly also in negotiations.
Andrew Bernstein, who served as an executive producer and director on season two, will direct. The script has been written by Nobody 2 and fourth-season writer Aaron Rabin. This is expected to take place in the Ryan-verse being established by Amazon, which includes Michael B. Jordan’s John Clark from Without Remorse and the upcoming Rainbow Six adaption.
Jack Ryan did big numbers, and was in Prime’s top three most-watched shows globally during its run.