Every 'Jack Ryan' TV Season & Movie, Ranked

Tom Clancy created Jack Ryan, a brilliant, reluctant CIA analyst who keeps insisting he belongs behind a desk and keeps ending up in the middle of global crises. Alec Baldwin first brought Ryan to life in 1990’s The Hunt for Red October, and Harrison Ford followed in the early ’90s with Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.

Ben Affleck and Chris Pine each took the part in later years, and Amazon Prime Video recast the character with John Krasinski for a four-season run. Now, with a Krasinski-led Jack Ryan movie officially confirmed, the franchise is heading back to the big screen.

Not every entry hits the mark. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is the lone film not based on Tom Clancy material and suffers for it, turning Ryan into more of a field agent than the brainy analyst he’s meant to be; Kenneth Branagh’s theatrical villain and a rushed romance with Keira Knightley leave the film feeling generic despite Chris Pine’s likability.

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