Very few people would mistake John Krasinski as an action hero. The tall and lanky comedian carved his niche as the sweetly sarcastic and lovable Jim on NBC's version of The Office. But Krasinski admittedly turned heads when he teamed with director Michael Bay for the Benghazi thriller 13 Hours. Now Krasinski is looking to build on that action portfolio by bringing Tom Clancy's famed espionage agent Jack Ryan to screens for an Amazon series that's currently in production. I had the chance to speak with Krasinski recently, and he had this to say about the scope of the action in the upcoming Jack Ryan series:
You always hear that people want to shoot TV more like movies. This is the first time I've ever experienced anything like this. We are shooting action sequences and things like that as if we were on a Michael Bay set, itself. We're really getting some incredible stuff in there, and the action -- and again, the sort of gritty nature of it -- and making it feel real has been awesome. But yeah, we've got all sorts of military cooperation. We have military vehicles. We have all sorts of elaborate fight scenes. It's been awesome.
It has been almost a year since Amazon greenlit a 10-episode order for a series based on Tom Clancy's iconic CIA agent, Jack Ryan. With Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes partially financing the affair, that likely helped John Krasinski be considered for the lead role, as he was coming off playing a military leader in Bay's 13 Hours. The show, according to Variety, filmed episodes in the U.S., Europe and Africa, and it will track Jack Ryan as he uncovers a dangerous plot by rogue terrorists that will threaten the globe.
You know, normal stuff for Jack Ryan.
John Krasinski, who told us that the show should make its debut in the second half of 2018, says that this character and this type of world is exactly the kind of project he has been anxious to attempt, explaining:
We're really excited about it. I think they just showed something in Cannes, and we're a little over halfway done [with filming], so I'm really excited. This is something that I have really wanted to do, this sort of world is a world I've really wanted to play in, and to be able to do it with the specifics of Jack Ryan, I've been a fan of that series for forever. I'm just trying to do the other four dudes proud.
The other four dudes John Krasinski references are Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October), Harrison Ford (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger), Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears) and Chris Pine (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), all of whom have brought Tom Clancy's spy to life in various forms. Krasinski will be the first to do so in a TV series, and with Amazon putting technical weight behind it, it sounds like it's shaping up to be something special.
We will keep you posted on anything concrete we hear regarding the release date of the Jack Ryan Amazon series. In the meantime, Be sure to check out our full summer premiere list and set your DVR accordingly.
