‘Jack Ryan’ Star John Krasinski Says This Is ‘A Highlight Of My Life, Not Just My Career’ — Watch the Season 2 Trailer

Fans of author Tom Clancy have seen his character of CIA analyst Jack Ryan brought to life by Alec Baldwin in The Hunt For Red October, Harrison Ford in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears, and Chris Pine in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Most recently it’s been John Krasinki’s turn in the Amazon series, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, which is returning for its second season — the trailer for which the streaming service has just released.

The series is described as a reinvention — but with a modern sensibility — of the unexpected Tom Clancy hero (first introduced in print back in 1984). In it, Jack Ryan is an up-and-coming CIA analyst who finds himself thrust into a dangerous field assignment for the first time. In season two, after tracking a potentially suspicious shipment of illegal arms in the Venezuelan jungle, Jack heads down to South America to investigate. As his investigation threatens to uncover a far-reaching conspiracy, the President of Venezuela launches a counter-attack that hits home for Jack, leading him and his fellow operatives on a global mission spanning the United States, UK, Russia, and Venezuela to unravel the President’s nefarious plot and bring stability to a country on the brink of chaos.

John, speaking at a red carpet premiere event at LA Fleet Week aboard the historic Battleship Iowa at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, CA, enthuses of this project, “The cool thing about this version, at least for me as an actor, is it takes a lot of pressure off in that you get to do eight hours of content rather than two hours, right? That was one of the big pitches to me, the question of what if the movies weren’t the best place for Jack Ryan? It’s hard to fit all that story into two hours, but over eight hours we really get to know these characters intimately. We really get to spend time with them. You get to see all of Jack’s trepidations, of him not wanting to be here whatsoever. I think one of my favorite things in the first three episodes is where he says he doesn’t want to go out in the field ever. But he’s dragged out there against his will.”

He reveals that he learned a lot on his 2016 film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi that he was able to apply on this show. “What I learned on 13 Hours,” shares John, who is coming off of the massive success of A Quiet Place, which he also served as writer, director and executive producer of, “is that it’s all about the people. So for me, one of the greatest moments in my life — not just career — was getting to meet all the real-life operators that helped us out on that film to make sure that we told the story in a real way. So I just went back to the well and did that again. And the coolest thing for me — I totally nerded out — was when we got to the CIA. I probably embarrassed myself and I’m sure they have it on tape. They were unbelievable to meet.

“I thought it would be the most uneventful research time in my life, because I thought the answer to everything would be, ‘We can’t discuss anything,'” he adds with a laugh. “Instead, they were the most unbelievably generous, kind, smart people, and more than just learning about their lives in the field, I got to hear about it. How it weighs upon a marriage, how it weighs upon families, and how do you just keep going as a person, not only as an officer. So I owe them everything.”

Season 2 of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is coming soon to Amazon Prime.