John Krasinski's Jack Ryan might have finished its four-season run at Amazon Studios' Prime Video, but the character isn't done just yet. In fact, he's back for another new adventure, releasing on May 20, and this time on the big screen: Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War.
The movie follows Krasinski's titular character, who has been around for a while, as he reunites with CIA operatives after trying to live a normal civilian life. However, life has different plans for when Wendell Pierce's James Greer sends him to Dubai with Michael Kelly's Mike for a simple pickup. What was supposed to be a little pit stop leads to far bigger trouble than they could have expected, along with the introduction of a new ally in the form of Sienna Miller's Emma Marlow.
The Direct sat down with Jack Ryan: Ghost War director Andrew Bernstein to talk all about the movie, including how it will stand on its own without audiences needing to see the first four seasons that came before on Prime Video.
"We're hoping people don't feel like they need to watch the series to watch the movie," Bernstein explained, adding that he feels Jack Ryan "is still relevant today in terms of sort of [his] relationship to the world and what's going on."
"I think it's super universal in terms of what it's talking about," he elaborated, adding that "the characters are super interesting" and that "they're entertaining movies." At the end of the day, his "hope is that we've created something that's standalone enough to warrant people coming out just to see the film."
The Biggest Differences Between Jack Ryan on Television & in the Movies
Jack Ryan Has Upped His Game on the Big Screen.
- The Direct: "What are some of the biggest differences in terms of working for working on Jack Ryan for television compared to a movie like this?"
Andrew Bernstein: Well, the biggest difference, or the biggest challenge, was to sort of make the movie feel of its own thing. You know, it's a standalone movie. It's not meant to be another season of the TV series. While we honor the TV series, and we loved what we did there, we want this to bring its own new set of fans and sort of new audience, while bringing the old audience as well and everyone enjoying it.
So that was probably the biggest challenge [of the whole thing] was to sort of make sure people weren't confused [and] the characters made sense while entertaining people, obviously for the run of the film... And then also, obviously we upped our game in terms of, sort of the action of the movie and sort of the character development. So that's always something we want to do so that it feels a leap ahead of sort of what we've done before.
Can You Jump Into the Movie Without Watching the Show?
"I Think Jack Ryan Is a Timeless Character..."
- The Direct: "Why is this movie still a good place for audiences to tune in who have never seen the show?"
Andrew Bernstein: It's a great question, and we're hoping people don't feel like they need to watch the series to watch the movie. Listen, I think Jack Ryan is a timeless character to be honest with you. He's been around a long time. [Tom] Clancy's been writing these books for a long time, and what he was writing about at the very beginning when we saw 'Patriot Games' in his early movies, is still relevant today in terms of Jack's relationship to the world and what's going on.
So, I think it's super universal in terms of what it's talking about. I think the characters are super interesting. They're entertaining movies. And again, my hope is that we've created something that's standalone enough to sort of warrant people coming out just to see the film, if that's what they wanted.
Will Jack Ryan's Future Remain on the Big Screen?
"My Hope Is We Get to Make More Movies of Jack Ryan."
- The Direct: "Do you think the future of this version of the character is in movies going forward and not on television?"
Andrew Bernstein: You know, listen, that's not my decision to make. But my hope is we get to make more movies of Jack Ryan. We have such a great time doing it. I think we have found a sort of a real version of the storytelling that fits into the movie version of this character. And I think if everybody's onboard and John [Krasinski] wants to jump back into that character, I think we'd all be super excited to make another movie of this. You know, not that we didn't love the series and doing it, and everyone's had a great time doing...
- The Direct: "Is there a storyline you want to see if you were to do another movie?"
Bernstein: I have no comment on that one... Honestly, it's more about I want to learn more about Jack Ryan and the people you know, Mike November and Wendell [Pierce's] character, Jim Greer, and now see at his character, the more we can do stuff where we learn more about these people, and we sort of put them together in interesting situations, in different locations.
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