Jack O'Rourke (Rise)

Jack O'Rourke is a survivor of the outbreak in Rise, and a main character in the first and second seasons of the series. Working in the warehouse at the Foxwood Shipping building in Bridgeport, Connecticut; we are first introduced to Jack when he asks for a promotion from Jessica Callis. After returning to the warehouse, it is revealed through close friend Reggie Harbaugh that Jack was originally meant to ask for a promotion on behalf of Tyler Dallmer, but instead asked for his own and hid the truth away from Tyler. After the phone lines suspiciously go down, Jack is the second worker from the Foxwood Shipping building to notice the weird nature of the events unfolding, soon after Jessica Callis. After Jessica departs the Foxwood Shipping building, Jalen Tormo drives up to check on the workers, only to reveal that he had been scratched by a monster whilst departing New York, but didn't realize that he had been infected due to his and the Foxwood Shipping workers lack of knowledge on the nature of the infected monsters. Once Jalen goes to take a nap after feeling a little sickly, Jack and Reggie check on him a few hours afterwards, only to find him to have died and reanimated as a monster. With the help of Reggie, Jack assists in killing Jalen and keeping the group safe. Upon Jalen's death and the groups realization of the situation unfolding, Jack assumes a leadership role and orders Reggie, Tyler and Shauna King to start sealing entrances to the building and preparing to defend their de-facto shelter. After Shauna reveals that her brother Devon had still yet to show up, she requests that Jack accompany her on a mission to look for him, which Jack does after leaving Reggie and Tyler in charge of keeping the building protected. Once they reach a roadblock, Jack and Shauna begin searching through an abandoned school building for supplies, which is where they meet The Man, who shoots Shauna and Jack before taking their car and fleeing the building, with the gunshots alerting a horde of monsters that quickly begin to swarm on the building. Jack and Shauna are then forced to take shelter in an empty school room, where Jack begins to remove the bullets lodged in himself and Shauna, with the screaming drawing in more monsters. Once the classroom is invaded by monsters having broken the doors in, Jack and Shauna retreat out of the window and onto the roof before John Callis, Jessica Callis, Emilio Vasquez, Troy Austin, and Katie Dawson arrive and begin fighting through the horde. After being rescued by the group, Jack and Shauna ride along with them before returning to the Foxwood Shipping building, where Jack and the rest of the group learn that Reggie and Tyler were attacked by The Man before incapacitating him and holding him prisoner to be questioned. Jack offers to question the Man before Charlotte Walters arrives and collects him before departing, only to blow up the Foxwood Shipping building in front of John at the end of the first season to establish herself as the antagonist for the second season.
== Representation ==
Jack is shown to be a man desperate to prove his worth as a leader, going as far as to sneak behind his friends back in order to achieve his goal of working up the Foxwood Shipping company ladder. Jack is described by Jessica as a hard worker, but Jessica explains in our introduction to Jack that his work-ethic doesn't usually translate to his abilities as a leader, something he works to prove his worth at once taking over as the de-facto leader of the Foxwood Shipping workers after the events of the initial outbreak. After giving Shauna his word that he would assist her in looking for her brother, Jack keeps his word to Shauna, showing that he will follow through on what he says he will do. Jack is shown to be skilled at working under pressure, removing a bullet from his own back as well as Shauna's despite the screaming he was aware would come from the procedure, bringing monsters to their area. Even with his back against the wall as the monsters found a way into the empty classroom, Jack was aware enough to lead Shauna out of the window and onto the rooftop area when all hope seemed lost, showing his will to live no matter what situation he is faced with. Though it is unclear what his intentions were going to be, Jack offering to be the first person to question the Man showed his desire to take a stand for his group and ask the questions that would see the group helped the most, putting himself in a position to face someone that tried to kill him, and still put the well-being of his own group ahead of his own wants for revenge and retribution. 
== Appearances ==
=== Season One ===
* Day Zero - Part One
* Day Zero - Part Two
* It'll Grow on You
* Remnants of the Same
* Closer to Home
* King of the Clouds
== Trivia ==
* Creator of the series Zachary Serra confirmed that during the writing process for the first season of the series, he modeled the appearance of Jack after the lead singer of rock bands Slipknot and Stone Sour, Corey Taylor.