Kokomo Tribune Entertainment NOW
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Entertainment Now | June 24 - 30, 2023 By Jay Bobbin TV Media J ack Ryan has had several screen lives, via a variety of actors, and his latest one is about to begin its final round. John Krasinski ("The Office") returns as the CIA analyst who typically finds himself in the thick of the action as the fourth and final season of the Prime Video adventure-drama "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan" premieres Friday, June 30. Arriving six months after Season 3 began — an unusually short span be- tween seasons for a streaming series — the program will debut two of its six new episodes each Friday, and the concluding story tests Ryan in terms of enemies both foreign and domestic. Now the acting deputy direc- tor of the Central Intelligence Agency, Ryan is concerned with the behavior of his own opera- tives as he starts a probe of pos- sible corruption. Before long, though, he discovers several black ops situations that might make America vulnerable to plots from overseas … with the union of a drug cartel and a ter- rorist group potentially spelling very bad things for the United States and challenging Ryan's strongly held beliefs in right, wrong and justice. Krasinski also is among the executive producers of "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan," on which novelist Tom Clancy is given the same credit posthumously. Oth- er returning cast members in- clude Wendell Pierce – a Tony Award nominee this year for "Death of a Salesman" – as Ry- an's former supervisor, James Greer, and Abbie Cornish ("Three Billboards Outside Ebb- ing, Missouri," 2017) in a re- prise of her Season 1 role as Ry- an's girlfriend (and, per the Clancy books, eventual wife), Dr. Cathy Mueller. The new season also features Michael Pena ("Ant-Man," 2015) as Domingo Chavez, the protagonist of an intended spinoff series. As mentioned, "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan" is the latest iteration of a franchise that dates back to 1987 in print ("Patriot Games" was the first novel) and to 1990 on film. "The Hunt for Red Octo- ber" was the initial Ryan movie, and though he certainly was a major character as played by Alec Baldwin ("The Departed," 2006), top billing went to the star who played the character Ryan was investigating: Sean Connery ("Dr. No," 1962) as So- viet submarine commander Marko Ramius. The film was an enormous hit for its time, making more than $200 million worldwide, and one can only speculate whether the result would have been the same if the originally intended casting — Kevin Costner ("Yel- lowstone") as Ryan and Klaus Maria Brandauer ("Never Say Never Again," 1983) as Ramius — had stuck. The outcome vir- tually demanded a follow-up, and that arrived in 1992 with the screen version of "Patriot Games," but with a significant change in the actor playing Ryan. Stories differ as to why Bald- win didn't return, mostly related to the timing of his commitment to a Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire," but Harrison Ford, star of the Stars Wars and Indiana Jones fran- chises, who had built a reputa- tion for brainy action tales, got the part next. And not just for one film, but for two. It turned out to be a good move, since the picture grossed slightly under $180 million internationally in its original theatrical run. That made Paramount Pic- tures feel good about retaining Ford for 1994's "Clear and Pres- ent Danger," though Clancy hadn't been happy with the "Pa- triot Games" movie and had considered withholding the screen rights to other Ryan sto- ries. (A considerable financial incentive for the author report- edly resolved that hurdle.) De- spite problems caused by Mexi- can-location unrest and earth- quake-damaged footage, all turned out well, with "Clear and Present Danger" becoming the franchise's top-grossing entry with $216 million worldwide. By the time the movies were ready to revisit Ryan, Ford had dropped out over script dis- agreements, and 2002's "The Sum of All Fears" was revised to be an origin story – along the lines of Daniel Craig's James Bond debut in "Casino Royale" – with the younger Ben Affleck ("Air," 2023) playing Ryan. In- terestingly, Affleck has said he was working with initial "Ryan" actor Baldwin on "Pearl Harbor" (2001) on the day he got the of- fer, and both Baldwin and Ford gave him their blessing on suc- ceeding them. The outcome was quite satis- factory, with "The Sum of All Fears" (which is now something of a staple on cable networks) topping $190 million in interna- tional profits. Though that would be Affleck's one turn as Ryan, at least up to now, that casting can be seen as helping to make it plausible for Chris Pine ("Star Trek," 2009) to take up the part in 2014's "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" (which finally brought Costner into the franchise as a co-star) … and then for Krasinski to inherit the role in the Prime Video series when it began in 2018. That service clearly was happy with what it was getting early on, since "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan" was renewed for a second season several months before the first one premiered. Now, the show begins its victory lap, but Ryan's history with filmmakers might suggest that he isn't done with his screen adventures for good. Michael Pena in "Jack Ryan" Final assignment: 'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan' starts his last Prime Video mission 2 | Cover story Grindstone Charlie's 1 x 4" Moore's Home Health 5 x 2"