Jack Ryan is finally back for a third season on Amazon Prime Video. The globe-trotting action hero, created by American espionage novelist Tom Clancy, has enjoyed a renewed popularity in recent years thanks to this action-packed show.
Last year’s hectic production schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that most shows saw a delay in their release, and Jack Ryan wasn’t the exception. Now, Amazon has suggested that filming of season 3 began sometime in late 2020, with an upcoming 2021 release looking very likely. That said, some other less enthusiastic sources see an early 2022 release as the safest bet. Be it as it may, we already know precisely where Ryan is headed in his next adventure.
But before we get deep into what to expect from the upcoming season, let’s take a look at what the previous two seasons of Jack Ryan have been like.
Previously, on Jack Ryan…
Beginning as a low-level financial analyst working for the CIA, Jack Ryan is plunged into field action when he discovers that some dubious bank transfers could be tied to a Yemeni terrorist.
The first season of the show saw Ryan cruising the Middle East as he fights to uncover the truth behind the terrorist Suleiman. Ryan ends up going head to head against ISIS and other rebel groups, in a season that includes multiple characters from the novels written by Tom Clancy.
Generally speaking, the show’s first season was a critical success. Though some critics noted that the show simplified the complex geopolitical drama usually seen in Clancy’s novels, they agreed that this was a necessity to keep the show moving as if it were an action flick.
After this, Jack Ryan’s second season follows the CIA agent as he travels to South America, more precisely, to a very corrupt Venezuela. Ryan uncovers a connection between the country’s unscrupulous government and a conspiracy to sell nuclear weapons, sending him in a downward spiral as he races against time to save the world once more.
This season received equally positive reviews, although the series seems to embrace its bombastic setpieces a bit more in its second season. This tendency towards becoming an action show appears to be a clear path for the series, and it’s one that has worked in its favor so far.
What comes next
Amazon has been unusually tight-lipped about what to expect from the show’s third season. Rumors online talk about a Moscow-based mission, with the season being an adaptation of Clancy’s 1998 novel “The Cardinal of the Kremlin.”
John Krasinski is set to reprise his role as Jack Ryan. Also, everything points to the actor keeping his position as one of the show’s executive producers. Another fact that could give us a clue as to where Ryan might be headed in the upcoming season is one of the filming locations, as season 3 has shot some scenes in Hungary’s Astra Studios.
Astra Studios has seen an immense jump in popularity in recent years, being chosen for some big-budget productions like Netflix’s “The Witcher” and “Hanna”, another Amazon Prime Video production. These two shows include tons of scenes in arctic forests, so the Moscow theory seems to be on the right track.
There’s still no news on when we can expect Jack Ryan to return to Amazon’s streaming platform, but fans hold on to the hopes that a trailer will drop sometime soon. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in Tom Clancy’s trademark political intrigue, the first two seasons of the series are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video right now.
