John Krasinski to Star in ‘Jack Ryan’ Movie

John Krasinski as Jack Ryan in Prime Video’s ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’ Season 4. Credit: Jonny Cournoyer/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Preview:

Amazon MGM Studios is developing a movie based on Prime Video’s ‘Jack Ryan’ series.
Star John Krasinski is returning to lead and produce.
Co-star Wendell Pierce is already attached to appear.

The Tom Clancy character of Jack Ryan used to be firmly a cinematic spectacle. Between Alec Baldwin’s portrayal in ‘The Hunt for Red October,’ Harrison Ford’s two films (which became the Ryan movie fans most closely associate with the CIA analyst), Ben Affleck in ‘The Sum of All Fears’ and Chris Pine in ‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,’ we got used to him running around the big screen.

John Krasinski and Prime Video changed all that with TV series ‘Jack Ryan,’ which aired four seasons between 2018 and 2023. It offered the chance for longer, more nuanced adventures for Ryan (well, as nuanced as a show based on a Tom Clancy character truly gets) and was a big success.

TV-MA4 SeasonsAugust 30th, 2018

Amazon MGM Studios is looking to keep that going but is switching tracks to send Ryan back to movie form (likely so that Krasinski can keep playing him but doesn’t have to commit to another season).

What’s the story of the ‘Jack Ryan’ movie?

John Krasinski as Jack Ryan in Prime Video’s ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’ Season 4. Credit: Attila Szvacsek/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

There are zero details on what Ryan might be up to in the movie, though it’s a fair guess that it’ll involve some big, probably terrorist or rogue state-sponsored threat that Ryan has to A) figure out and B) take down.

Given that Amazon also owns the rights to the Ryan-adjacent John Clark character (as portrayed by Michael B. Jordan in ‘Without Remorse’, and aboard to return for ‘Rainbow Six,’ might we get a fan-pleasing crossover, if only for one scene?

Who else is working on the ‘Jack Ryan’ movie?

Wendell Pierce as James Greer in ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.’ Credit: Sarah Shatz. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

With Krasinski starring and producing, we’ll also see the return of Wendell Pierce, who plays James Greer, Ryan’s superior in the series.

And Michael Kelly, who had a sizeable roles as Mike November, is in talks.

Behind the scenes, Andrew Bernstein, who served as an executive producer and director on Season 2 of the series, is directing the film from a script by Aaron Rabin, who served as a co-executive producer and writer on Season 4.

When will the ‘Jack Ryan’ movie be in theaters?

John Krasinski as Dr. Jack Ryan in Prime Video’s ‘Jack Ryan.’

There is no word on when the movie will land on the big screen. And it might also be an “if” situation –– Amazon could still decide to release it via streaming to keep the Prime Video audience watching.

Still, with Krasinski in the lead, the studio may well decide to leverage his film star status to turn this into more of an event.