TAGGED AS: Prime Video, spy thriller, streaming, television, TV
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is about to return with its long-awaited third season on Prime Video, and the new installment of the series, which is inspired by Tom Clancy’s bestselling book series, looks like it’s going to be the most riveting season yet.
John Krasinski stars as the titular CIA agent, a by-the-books agency financial analyst who is frequently forced to perform spy work in the field. His costars in the new season include Michael Kelly as Mike November, and Wendell Pierce as James Greer, along with newcomers Nina Hoss, who plays Czech President Alena Kovac, and Betty Gabriel, who plays Rome Chief of Station Elizabeth Wright.
(Photo by Philippe Antonello/Prime Video)
Season 3 finds Ryan immersed in another world-threatening controversy, but this time around, the stakes are higher, as he is accused of treason and has a target placed firmly on his back.
“This was definitely the most action-packed season we’ve had so far,” Krasinski, who told Rotten Tomatoes. “Knowing that the audience was going to have three years in between the two seasons, we wanted to make it really fun and really exciting. And running away from the CIA is as dangerous as anything we could think of for Jack to do.”
(Photo by Attila Szvacsek/ Prime Video)
Jack Ryan does a lot of running this season. So much so, in fact, that Krasinski admitted he had to put in some intense fitness work after hosting Some Good News, his pandemic shut-down news show dedicated entirely to good news.
“I definitely had to get in shape for this, because I did not look like that when I was doing Some Good News. I had to shake my Some Good News body and step back into Jack Ryan body,” he said.
The inclusion of Kelly’s Mike November and Pierce’s James Greer completes the heroic trifecta that cements Jack Ryan’s support system. However, series newcomers Nina Hoss and Betty Gabriel bring some welcome female energy to disrupt the CIA’s male-oriented status quo.
(Photo by Attila Szvacsek/ Prime Video)
“With these two additional powerful women in these positions, we kind of stop the rhythm that they’re in because we get to do our own decision-making at our own timing,” Hoss revealed.
In the new season, Hoss steps into the character of Czech President Alena Kovac. Considering the Russia storyline featured in the new episodes, it’s safe to say her role as a politician will come into play as a global threat from the region will upend any semblance of safety and trust within her circle.
(Photo by Attila Szvacsek/ Prime Video)
“It’s a very male-dominant organization, the CIA,” Gabriel said. “So, I was very happy to step in and be the woman in this capacity, in this context, and also portray just how challenging that is, without hitting people over the head with it.”
As the Chief of Station in Rome, Gabriel’s Elizabeth Wright will have her hands full as she works to bring Jack Ryan to justice.
“She’s definitely having to navigate being this hunter, this person that has to track down someone that she actually really appreciates,” Gabriel said. “She appreciates Jack’s skill level and instincts, but she knows that she has a job to do. She’s gotten to this point because she’s followed the rules and now she has this pressure on her from her higher ups to do this thing where she’s just got to deliver or her job’s on the line. And you have this person that she’s hunting who’s forcing her into a space where she can’t quite follow those rules. And it’s just a really complicated, intense, insecure place to be.”
(Photo by Prime Video)
Yes, this season travels to Eastern Europe for the new episodes. Krasinski revealed the concept for season 3 was put to paper in 2019. Now, three years later, the storyline has brought a “heartbreaking” element to the program. Production may have wrapped in summer 2021, which was over half a year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, but the thoughts of the ongoing atrocities in the area have stayed with the show’s creators.
“To see that we had created a fictitious world that was larger-than-life that we thought was more than anyone could ever imagine happening in the real world, and then to see that not only is it happening in the real world but tenfold is just a tragedy and so heartbreaking,” Krasinski said.
(Photo by ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Why do they go there to begin with? The story choice sticks to the ongoing theme of including an homage to a Tom Clancy story in each season. This time around, Krasinski revealed they chose the Cold War-themed The Hunt for Red October. The 1990 movie adaptation of Clancy’s bestseller, which followed a rogue Soviet submarine heading for the America’s east coast, starred Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, and Scott Glenn (pictured above).
“We had made the decision long ago to tip our hats to The Hunt for Red October,” Krasinski continued. “That’s when we decided to go to Russia. Instead of a nuclear submarine, we decided to make it a man that had intel that would de-escalate the situation that was going on.”
(Photo by Jonny Cournoyer/ Prime Video)
By the sound of things, there will absolutely be a lot of de-escalating going on. And the hope, of course, is for audiences to get lost in the excitement of the fictional adventure playing out on screen. Michael Kelly sure did. As he explained it, the array of stunts they performed in season 3 made the whole experience feel like being a kid in an action-packed candy store.
“We get to fly in helicopters, shoot guns, and run and jump off of things that you don’t typically do as a 50-something-year-old man,” he exclaimed. “It’s going and being kids, man. It’s playing cops and robbers in the backyard. That’s what going to work is like.”
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Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Season 3
(2022)
premieres December 21 on Prime Video.
