Six full years before Donald Trump launched a US military operation in Venezuela, a very famous fictional CIA analyst – somehow – seemingly predicted the event onscreen.
So of course, when the American president actually pulled the trigger on the attack, which resulted in the capture of his Venezuelan counterpart, the internet was abuzz – and that scene in Prime Video’s Jack Ryan series quickly went viral, joining the ranks of the shows like The Simpsons in becoming accidental soothsayers.
In the clip, Ryan (played by John Kransinski) is warning that Venezuela should be considered a “major threat on the world stage”, emphasising its wealth of natural resources and strategic proximity to the US.
“Venezuela is arguably the single greatest resource of oil and minerals on the planet,” the character explains.
(It’s worth noting that in Jack Ryan, the corrupt fictional president is exposed and removed through elections rather than via US special forces intervening – a rather critical difference).
Speaking to news.com.au ahead of the release of the latest chapter in the franchise, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War film, Krasinski said he found it “baffling” that a show of its nature had managed to reflect what would become reality (or close to).
“I found out about [the viral clip] way too late – but any way I can be like The Simpsons is welcome to me,” the actor, 46, said.
“What’s crazy about the Jack Ryan character is that you look at Tom Clancy and he was writing geopolitical stuff that was way too prescient, even when he was doing it – and he wrote those books years and years before anything like that happened.
“And we fall in that same category. I think when we shot that [Venezuelan storyline] it was six, seven years ago … so the fact that anything in reality would reflect anything from the show is as baffling to us as it is to [fans].”
Jack Ryan: Ghost War picks up three years after the four-season finale of the Prime Video series aired, during which Ryan dramatically exposes corruption within both the organisation and the US government during a Senate hearing.
The emotion surrounding the end of the series proved short-lived, with fans delighted to discover just months later that the next chapter was in the works – this time, as a film on the streaming service.
After previously describing how “very satisfying” he’d found the ultimate conclusion of the series, what prompted Krasinski to open up the Jack Ryan story again?
“I’m one of five people to play [Jack], and I knew someone would play him after me if it wasn’t me – and I thought, ‘you know what? I don’t want that to happen just yet’,” he bluntly admitted.
“I always loved playing the character, and I would’ve kept playing him. I thought we ended the TV series really well, and then because I wasn’t done with it, I thought that was the great ‘in’ to the movie … that Jack should be feeling the same thing.
“He’s out of the CIA, but feels like he’s not done trying to make a difference in the world.”
As Krasinski explained, in Ghost War, now-civilian Ryan returns to the action – albeit more reluctantly – after a brief retirement to counter a rising rogue black-ops unit called “Starling” who are poised to wreak havoc on the world.
Returning to the fold are a few notable players from the series, including CIA Deputy Director James Greer (Wendell Pierce) and private security contractor Mike November (Michael Kelly). Joining the cast for the first time is Sienna Miller as MI6 agent Emma Marlow, who is described as Ryan’s British counterpart.
Ghost War is an action-packed, ambitious new entry into the franchise – but is it also the entry point for more Jack Ryan films, as they were in the past (led by actors including Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck).
“I would love to do it again, let’s get the Amazon folks in here!” Krasinski confirmed.
“I think changing the format allows for us to do that, you know what I mean?”
He added that what they achieved with the show was “so special” because fans were able to really “spend more time” with the characters, and the cast and crew were able to spend more time delving into the Jack Ryan world.
“And I think that’s the only reason why we were able to bring it back to being movies, because people knew these characters, knew the dynamics, and that way they just want to see you throw them into more harrowing situations,” Krasinski said.
“And so now that we’re in the movie format, I would love to do another one – there’s a lot more story to tell.”
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War begins streaming on Prime Video from May 20.
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