# Jack Ryan (franchise)

The Jack Ryan franchise consists of American action-thriller installments, based on the fictional titular character from a series of novels written by Tom Clancy. Various actors have portrayed the role.
Despite inconsistency with its lead actors and crew members, the series has been distributed solely by Paramount Pictures since its inception. Mace Neufeld has produced every film in the series, with producing partner Robert Rehme co-producing Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura co-producing Shadow Recruit. With a combined unadjusted worldwide gross of $788.4 million to date, the films constitute the 57th highest-grossing film series. The films have been nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one for Sound Effects (now Sound Editing) in The Hunt for Red October (at the 63rd Awards).
The continuity of the films does not follow the established timeline of the novels. In the book series, Patriot Games occurs before The Hunt for Red October, but the order was reversed in the film adaptations. Additionally, The Sum of All Fears departs significantly from its source material, with the events of the plot shifted from 1991 to 2002. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) was a reboot, and intended first film in a new film series. A sequel was planned, but was never made. The franchise continued with a television series titled Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, on Prime Video until 2023.

## Development

After viewing galley proofs of Tom Clancy's 1984 novel The Hunt for Red October, producer Mace Neufeld optioned the rights to the novel in 1985. Despite the book becoming a best seller, no Hollywood studio was interested in purchasing the film rights because of the high cost of trying to condense the book's massive content into a two-hour film. "This book doesn't condense well into two or three pages", said Neufeld. "I read some of the reports from the other studios and the story was too complicated to understand. Fortunately, I was able to get a major executive at Paramount to read the book and he said: 'I think this can make a great movie. Let's see if we can develop it'".

## Films

| Film | U.S. release date | Director | Screenwriters | Producer(s) |
| The Hunt for Red October | March 2, 1990 (1990-03-02) | John McTiernan | Larry Ferguson & Donald Stewart | Mace Neufeld |
| Patriot Games | June 5, 1992 (1992-06-05) | Phillip Noyce | W. Peter Iliff & Donald Stewart | Mace Neufeld & Robert G. Rehme |
| Clear and Present Danger | August 3, 1994 (1994-08-03) | Phillip Noyce | John Milius, Donald Stewart & Steven Zaillian | Mace Neufeld & Robert G. Rehme |
| The Sum of All Fears | May 31, 2002 (2002-05-31) | Phil Alden Robinson | Daniel Pyne & Paul Attanasio | Mace Neufeld |
| Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit | January 17, 2014 (2014-01-17) | Kenneth Branagh | Adam Cozad & David Koepp | Mace Neufeld, David Barron, Mark Vahradian & Lorenzo di Bonaventura |

### The Hunt for Red October (1990)

During 1984, Central Intelligence Agency analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) must track down Red October, a technologically superior Soviet nuclear submarine heading to America's east coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery), and prove to the American government his theory that the sub's mission is not to attack the American coast, but to defect. Upon successfully boarding the vessel, Ryan is to signal the American submarine USS Dallas to assist Red October in escaping from attacks by the Soviet submarine V.K. Konovalov so that it may be brought safely into U.S. waters.

### Patriot Games (1992)

Former CIA analyst-turned field operative Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford), is now a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy after previously receiving serious injury while intervening in an attack on the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in London and successfully killing one of the assailants. Because the remaining attackers were able to escape, the group now seeks revenge including Sean Miller (Sean Bean), the brother of the man Ryan killed. Miller vows to hunt down Ryan and avenge his brother, no matter how long it takes. Eventually, Ryan and his family are attacked in two separate, but simultaneous attempts. Ryan decides to rejoin the CIA, so that he can stop this group of Irish revolutionaries and protect the ones he loves.

### Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is appointed as acting-CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence, as Vice Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones) has been battling cancer. When a family close to the President is murdered in their sleep, by what appears to be a drug cartel, Ryan is called as investigator. Unknown to him, the CIA sends in a secret field-operative to lead an illegal, paramilitary force against the cartels in Colombia with the help of John Clark (Willem Dafoe). Risking both his life and his career, Ryan races against time to expose the truth.

### The Sum of All Fears (2002)

A contemporary prequel, set during 2002, the plot portrays a younger Jack Ryan. After the President of the Russian Federation dies and is replaced by a man with a mysterious past, the United States goes on a Cold War-like state of alert. CIA director William Cabot (Morgan Freeman) recruits young analyst Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) and assigns him to the situation in Russia, with the task to determine whether the paranoia is legitimate. Ryan soon discovers that a neo-nazi terrorist group plans to provoke a war between the U.S. and Russia, by detonating a nuclear bomb at a football game in Baltimore. Ryan works to resolve the assignment before it's too late.

### Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

A reboot of the film series, set during 2013. After the events of the September 11 attacks, Jack Ryan (Chris Pine), studying at the London School of Economics, becomes a Marine second lieutenant in Afghanistan. While on military tour he is critically injured after his helicopter is shot down. Twelve years later, Ryan is working undercover as a CIA analyst, and posing in a cover job on Wall Street as a compliance officer at a stock-brokerage firm. He quickly discovers that certain accounts are inaccessible to him as the auditor, which leads him to discover the scheme of Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh). With the help of Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner), Jack works to stop Cherevin's plot to collapse the US dollar.

### Future

In October 2024, it was announced that a feature film follow-up to the Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series was in development, with Andrew Bernstein serving as director on the project with a script written by Aaron Rabin. John Krasinski and Wendell Pierce will reprise their roles as Jack Ryan and James Greer, respectively. The studio entered early negotiations with Michael Kelly to also return in his role from the series; while Krasinski, Allyson Seeger, and Andrew Form will produce the movie. The project will be a joint-venture production between Amazon MGM Studios, Sunday Night Productions, Paramount Pictures, and Skydance Productions.

## Television
### Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (2018–2023)

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| 1 | 8 | 8 | August 31, 2018 (2018-08-31) | August 31, 2018 (2018-08-31) |
| 2 | 8 | 8 | October 31, 2019 (2019-10-31) | October 31, 2019 (2019-10-31) |
| 3 | 8 | 8 | December 21, 2022 (2022-12-21) | December 21, 2022 (2022-12-21) |
| 4 | 6 | 6 | June 30, 2023 (2023-06-30) | June 30, 2023 (2023-06-30) |

## Cast and crew
### Cast

| Characters | Films | Films | Films | Films | Films | Television series | Television series | Television series | Television series |
| Characters | The Hunt for Red October | Patriot Games | Clear and Present Danger | The Sum of All Fears | Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 |
| Characters | 1990 | 1992 | 1994 | 2002 | 2014 | 2018 | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Jack Ryan | Alec Baldwin | Harrison Ford | Harrison Ford | Ben Affleck | Chris Pine | John Krasinski | John Krasinski | John Krasinski | John Krasinski |
| Catherine "Cathy" Ryan (née Muller) | Gates McFadden | Anne Archer | Anne Archer | Bridget Moynahan | Keira Knightley | Abbie Cornish | | | Abbie Cornish |
| James Greer | James Earl Jones | James Earl Jones | James Earl Jones | | | Wendell Pierce | Wendell Pierce | Wendell Pierce | Wendell Pierce |
| Sally Ryan | Louise Borras | Thora Birch | Thora Birch | | | | | | |
| John Clark | | | Willem Dafoe | Liev Schreiber | | | | | |
| Domingo "Ding" Chavez | | | Raymond Cruz | | | | | | Michael Peña |
| Matice Garth / Jeff | | | | | | John Hoogenakker | John Hoogenakker | | |
| Mike November | | | | | | | Michael Kelly | Michael Kelly | Michael Kelly |
| Others | Marko Ramius: Sean Connery;Bart Mancuso: Scott Glenn;Vasily Borodin: Sam Neill;Andrei Lysenko: Joss Ackland | Kevin O'Donnell: Patrick Bergin;Sean Miller: Sean Bean;William Holmes: James Fox;Robby Jackson: Samuel L. Jackson | Robert "Bob" Ritter: Henry Czerny;Félix Cortez: Joaquim de Almeida;Ernesto Escobedo: Miguel Sandoval;Bennett: Donald Moffat | William Cabot: Morgan Freeman;J. Robert Fowler: James Cromwell;Anatoly Grushkov: Michael Byrne;Olson: Colm Feore | Viktor Cherevin / Rykov: Kenneth Branagh;Thomas Harper: Kevin Costner;Dixon Lewis: David Paymer;Rob Behringer: Colm Feore | Joe Muller: Victor Szelak;Mousa bin Suleiman: Ali Suliman;Hanin Ali: Dina Shihabi | Harriet "Harry" Baumann: Noomi Rapace;Marcus Bishop: Jovan Adepo;Nicolás Reyes: Jordi Molla;Miguel Ubarri: Francisco Denis;Gloria Bonalde: Cristina Umaña | | |

### Crew

| Film | Crew/Detail | Crew/Detail | Crew/Detail | Crew/Detail | Crew/Detail | Crew/Detail |
| Film | Composer | Cinematographer(s) | Editor(s) | Production companies | Distributing company | Running time |
| The Hunt for Red October | Basil Poledouris | Jan de Bont | Dennis Virkler & John Wright | Mace Neufeld Productions, Nina Saxon Film Design | Paramount Pictures | 135 minutes |
| Patriot Games | James Horner | Donald McAlpine | William Hoy & Neil Travis | Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions | Paramount Pictures | 117 minutes |
| Clear and Present Danger | James Horner | Donald McAlpine | Neil Travis | Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions | Paramount Pictures | 141 minutes |
| The Sum of All Fears | Jerry Goldsmith | John Lindley | Neil Travis & Nicolas de Toth | Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, MFP Munich Film Partners, S.O.A.F. Productions | Paramount Pictures | 124 minutes |
| Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit | Patrick Doyle | Haris Zambarloukos | Martin Walsh | Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, di Bonaventura Pictures, Skydance Media | Paramount Pictures | 105 minutes |
| Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan | Ramin Djawadi | Richard Rutkowski, Christopher Faloona, Checco Varese, Patrick Murguia, Jeffrey Greeley, and Arnau Valls Colomer | Paul Trejo, John M. Valerio, Sarah Boyd, Vikash Patel, Mark Goldman, and Stephen Semel | Amazon Original Series, Genre Arts, Push, Boot., Platinum Dunes, Skydance Television, Paramount Television Studios, Amazon Studios, Sunday Night Productions | Amazon Prime Video | 1800 minutes (1 hour per episode) |

## Reception
### Box office performance

| Film | U.S. release date | Box office revenue | Box office revenue | Box office revenue | Budget | Reference |
| Film | U.S. release date | United States | International | Worldwide | Budget | Reference |
| The Hunt for Red October | March 2, 1990 | $122,012,643 | $78,500,000 | $200,512,643 | $30,000,000 | |
| Patriot Games | June 5, 1992 | $83,351,587 | $94,700,000 | $178,051,587 | $45,000,000 | |
| Clear and Present Danger | August 3, 1994 | $122,187,717 | $93,700,000 | $215,887,717 | $62,000,000 | |
| The Sum of All Fears | May 31, 2002 | $118,907,036 | $75,014,336 | $193,921,372 | $68,000,000 | |
| Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit | January 17, 2014 | $50,577,412 | $84,933,618 | $135,511,030 | $60,000,000 | |
| Total | Total | $497,036,395 | $426,847,954 | $923,884,349 | $265,000,000 | |

### Critical and public response

| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
| The Hunt for Red October | 88% (76 reviews) | 58 (17 reviews) | A |
| Patriot Games | 72% (102 reviews) | 64 (23 reviews) | A– |
| Clear and Present Danger | 81% (47 reviews) | 74 (14 reviews) | A |
| The Sum of All Fears | 59% (175 reviews) | 45 (35 reviews) | A– |
| Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit | 55% (191 reviews) | 57 (36 reviews) | B |

## Home media

On February 7, 2003, Paramount announced a box set entitled The Jack Ryan Special Edition DVD Collection, which includes new editions of The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger as well as the special edition of The Sum of All Fears. Both the set and the individual editions of each film were released on May 6, 2003. While the four films were originally intended to be released in a Blu-ray collection entitled The Jack Ryan Collection, the films were later broken up into separate releases for the high definition format on July 29, 2008. On December 3, 2013, The Jack Ryan Collection was finally issued on Blu-ray.

## Other media
### Video games

The film series has spawned three video games for various systems. Two side scroller games were produced in 1990 to coincide with the release of The Hunt for Red October, one for computer systems was released by Grandslam Interactive Ltd. while another was released for Nintendo consoles by Hi-Tech Expressions, Inc. In 2002, the video game The Sum of All Fears was released by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and GameCube.
Domingo Chavez (as Ding Chavez) and John Clark both appear as a member and the leader of Team Rainbow in the older Rainbow Six games, these characters also appeared in the book.

### Cancelled projects

A film, based on the novel The Cardinal of the Kremlin, was planned. It was to involve Harrison Ford and William Shatner. It was never released and the idea was most likely scrapped.