Warning: SPOILERS for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan season 3 ahead.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan season 3 continued the franchise's philosophy of having the titular character's intelligence be central to his personality, but only one screen iteration of the five to date can be considered the smartest. Although Jack Ryan seasons 1 through 3 had Ryan (John Krasinski) facing various missions mirroring those confronted by the CIA analyst in Tom Clancy’s books, previous adaptations of Clancy’s novels proved more faithful to the original material. However, all Ryan versions across film and TV brought to life a different part of the character, becoming iconic in their way.
Before reaching the small screen with Amazon Prime's Jack Ryan, the analyst appeared in various spy thrillers that adapted Clancy’s earliest novels for cinema audiences. Alec Baldwin’s version of Jack Ryan was the first, in 1990’s The Hunt for Red October, introducing audiences to an intelligent and bold protagonist that abided by a moral code. Although featuring more prominently in some adaptations than others, Jack Ryan’s intelligence and rationality were always his core characteristics, although this cleverness manifested in surprisingly different ways across each iteration of the character.
Alec Baldwin
Adapting the first Tom Clancy novel with Jack Ryan as the protagonist, The Hunt for Red October featured the CIA analyst depicted by Alec Baldwin as a sharp former Marine unafraid to articulate and defend his theories. Baldwin’s Ryan was not only confident of his findings but also of the people whom he trusted. Despite having met Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) only once, Baldwin’s Jack Ryan readily let the Navy hate him if that meant facilitating the safe arrival of a potential Soviet Union defector to the US, especially if that came with an innovative nearly-silent ballistic missile submarine the US could study and replicate.
Baldwin’s Jack Ryan proved his extensive knowledge of his potential asset Ramius and the logical steps Ramius might have taken to ensure that he would have reached the US eastern coast. However, Ryan’s intelligence was mostly communicated through his firm conviction that Ramius was trying to defect, which was proved correct. However, that faith in Ramius also demonstrated his willingness to believe in something more abstract than his theories. Baldwin’s version couldn’t have emerged as the smartest Jack Ryan, as his cleverness wasn't as necessary to the plot's unfolding.
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford’s Jack Ryan inspired Amazon Prime Video’s Jack Ryan, and Ford is, to date, the only actor to portray the CIA analyst in two different movies, proving successful with critics and audiences alike. Ford’s Jack Ryan was considered by many fans the version most similar to Tom Clancy’s hero in the books, and he proved his quick thinking in both Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His emotional intelligence was particularly showcased in Patriot Games when Harrison Ford’s Ryan pressured the Sinn Fein representative to give him information about the IRA radical cell operatives threatening his family.
His wisdom was evident in Clear and Present Danger when he joined John Clark in Colombia to find the missing operatives, disentangling a situation more dangerous than both Harrison Ford’s or Alec Baldwin's Jack Ryan ever had to face previously. However, while his intelligence was evident in Ford’s Ryan managing both Escobedo and Cortez in ever-changing circumstances, instinct animated Ford's Ryan more than analysis. Patriot Games saw him act without thinking to protect Lord Holmes, and Clear and Present Danger became famous for Ryan telling off the US president, making him more famous for his boldness than his wit.
Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck’s Jack Ryan was less experienced than his predecessors, with The Sum of All Fears showing him during his first dealings with high officials from both the US and Russia. However, while the film portrayed Affleck’s Ryan as perceptive, especially for how he closely observed Nemerov’s predecessor, Zorkin, and rightfully guessed Nemerov as his successor, he constantly got to the solution late. This was exemplified by one storyline mirrored by Jack Ryan season 3, resulting in the nuclear bomb detonating in Baltimore and killing thousands, which Affleck’s Ryan was powerless to stop.
Affleck’s Ryan often threw himself right into the action in The Sum of All Fears, but that didn’t necessarily translate into successful outcomes. In the end, Ryan’s candor convinced Nemerov not to respond to the US president’s irrational actions, effectively stopping a nuclear war between the two countries, not his intelligence. Affleck’s Ryan displayed a high degree of emotional intelligence to know that he had to appeal to Nemerov to succeed. However, he can’t be considered the smartest Jack Ryan version because of his other shortcomings.
Chris Pine
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit introduced Chris Pine’s version of the character at an even earlier stage than Affleck’s, as he was yet to enlist in the US Marines at the beginning of the movie. The last Jack Ryan movie reboot, Shadow Recruit, showed the most studious version of Jack Ryan. A lot of focus was put on Ryan’s Ph.D., as Ryan not only refused to finish it to join the Marines but was also pushed to return to it by Harper (Kevin Costner) during Ryan’s recovery after his helicopter was shot down. Shadow Recruit portrayed an intelligent Jack Ryan, who often needed to simplify his reasoning to explain his theories to his associates.
Despite being thrown into action unexpectedly, as Pine’s Ryan effectively switched from analyst to operative while on a mission in Russia, he proved surprisingly good at reading other people and acting his part. Pine’s Ryan was actively depicted as analytical and logical by Shadow Recruit. Still, being shown on his first mission in the field, Pine’s Ryan proved rash, not thinking through his actions, and is thus incapable of being considered the smartest Jack Ryan.
John Krasinski
Jack Ryan season 3 portrayed John Krasinski’s Jack Ryan at his most competent. The titular character not only learned from his mistakes over the show’s three seasons, he never risked putting other people in danger. While Jack Ryan season 3 showed Ryan’s quick thinking in the field, especially as he needed to outwit the CIA director, it was Jack Ryan season 1 that portrayed him at his most analytical. Jack Ryan seasons 1 through 3 managed to get Krasinski’s Jack Ryan to a point where he didn't lack any of the abilities he would need in the field, making him a complete operative.
John Krasinski Is The Smartest Version of Jack Ryan
The extensive expertise of Krasinski’s Jack Ryan effectively made him the smartest version of Jack Ryan. Jack Ryan season 3 presented the character with a plot almost impossible to thwart, yet Ryan efficiently handled the Russian rogue faction’s attempted nuclear attack in the Czech Republic without civilian casualties. While Ryan might have reacted more emotionally in Jack Ryan season 1, as he did after Suleiman’s attack in the Parisian church, in season 3, he knew better. Even if he initially appeared to audiences as rushing into decisions, he subsequently proved to have thought it through.
Krasinski’s cleverness is referenced in Jack Ryan seasons 1 to 3 by Greer’s “bright boy” joke. However, it was also shown by Ryan’s willingness to cross whichever line deemed necessary to pursue his lead and do the right thing, no matter what the CIA ordered. By distancing himself from previous Jack Ryan actors whose character iterations would have seen things only in black and white, Krasinski’s Ryan showed the great lengths he would go to pursue his theory without putting others in danger. His adaptability, the string of proven foiled plots, and his ability to learn from his past mistakes effectively make Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan the smartest version of the CIA analyst.