John Krasinski has gone from starring in The Office to playing a character who ultimately assumes the office of the presidency. Deadline is reporting that Krasinski has locked up a deal to play the title role in the new Amazon television series, Jack Ryan.
From Deadline:
EXCLUSIVE: John Krasinski is the next Jack Ryan. The Office alum has closed a deal for the title role in Jack Ryan, the TV series project based on Tom Clancy’s popular CIA hero, which is set at Amazon through Paramount TV. In a competitive situation, the package, which includes the former Lost duo of co-showrunner Carlton Cuse and writer Graham Roland, Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and Skydance Media, landed at Amazon with a series commitment and the intention to go straight-to-series. While there is no official green light yet, the casting of Krasinski, who had been highly sought after by TV casting directors, would likely tip the scales and help net a series order. The project reunites Krasinski with Bay who recently directed him in the 13 Hours feature.
Conceived by Cuse and Roland, a former U.S. marine, based on Clancy’s novels, the show is not a direct adaptation of the books as were the first Jack Ryan movies but a new contemporary take on the character in his prime as a CIA analyst/operative using the novels as source material. Roland executive produces with Cuse and Lindsey Springer of Carlton Cuse Prods. as well as Platinum Dunes’ Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form and the movie franchise’s producer Mace Neufeld.
In the novels, Ryan, medically retired following a helicopter crash, works as an investment broker before taking a position at the U.S. Naval Academy and later joining the CIA, rising through the ranks to Deputy Director and eventually becoming President of the United States
I find it interesting that the series will not be a direct adaption of Clancy’s novels, but then again neither was the 2014 movie Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
Shadow Recruit starred Chris Pine in an updated, current-world Jack Ryan and told the young CIA officer’s origin story. Though not based on the books, I personally enjoyed the modernized version of the character. Unfortunately, it was not a box office success.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has bought the rights to a successful novel franchise. The online superstore previously acquired the rights to Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series. Bosch remains one of Amazon’s best original series, recognized by both critics and fans for outstanding acting and storytelling.
Krasinski is the fifth actor to play Ryan, following in the footsteps of Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for the Red October), Harison Ford (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger), Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears), and Chris Pine (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, 2014).
The Amazon television show isn’t the only new, upcoming appearance of Jack Ryan. The novel series continues with Mark Greaney’s (who took over for Tom Clancy) Tom Clancy True Faith and Allegiance, which is scheduled to be released on December 6, 2016.
There’s also a Jack Ryan Jr. series, with the latest book (written by Grant Blackwood)–Tom Clancy Duty and Honor–hitting bookstores on June 14th.
Note: Mark Greaney took to his official Facebook page yesterday to praise the casting of John Krasinski as Jack Ryan, saying the following: “If you saw him in the Office, you might not see it, but if you saw him in the FANTASTIC 13 Hours . . . this is a GREAT casting choice.”
That’s a pretty big endorsement, by a guy who knows Jack Ryan very well!