[UPDATE: It now appears that Jack Ryan will get the reboot treatment see the end of the article for details.]

Let’s throw another pancake on the Jack Ryan flapjack stack, shall we? First we had a Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October), then we had Indiana Jones (Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger), then we had Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears), and after that one, the trail ended, and rightfully so.

But recently, the Jack Ryan Rumor Mill has been stirring again, producing some interesting pulp about a certain man-hunk taking over the role for the rumored next Jack Ryan film.

It seems that Ryan Gosling might be taking over the role of Jack Ryan in By Any Means Necessary, the latest film in the franchise that originated in the Tom Clancy novels. Apparently he is in negotiations to take over the role in the Paramount Pictures produced series.

Gosling would follow in the very large footsteps of Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck.

City Of God director Fernando Meirelles is currently top of the list to direct the film.

I really enjoy the Jack Ryan films, and I always look forward to a new one.
However, I will be honest and say that I don’t like the books. I read Patriot Games several years ago, and I thought that it was a terrible piece of literature. As an Irish man brought up in the “troubles” (if you don’t know what the “troubles” are google them- this ain’t a history lesson and it’s far too controversial to get into here) I thought that the book was not only naive but very poorly researched, badly written and offensive. In fact, it was one of the worst books that I’ve ever read- and I’ve read quite a few terrible books.