John Krasinski Compares Jack Ryan To The Office's Jim Halpert

Screen Rant

Jack Ryan Is A 'Supercharged' Jim Halpert, Says John Krasinski

By Timothy Lammers

Published Jun 17, 2018

It appears that John Krasinski's version of Jack Ryan will have every man qualities akin to the actor's affable Jim Halpert from The Office.

John Krasinski appears to be channeling his everyman character Jim Halpert from The Office to ground his portrayal in the title role of the upcoming Amazon series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. Long before he took on the huge responsibility of playing Clancy's iconic character Jack Ryan, Krasinski, of course, played the lovable, mild-mannered salesman Halpert for the fictional Dundler Mifflin Paper Company for nine seasons on NBC's hit comedy series The Office, from 2005 to 2013.

Since then, Krasinski has leaped onto the big screen, where he starred in director Michael Bay's true-life action adventure drama 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Bengazhi in 2016, and most recently, when he served as director, co-star, and co-writer of the surprise hit, A Quiet Place, which was an inventive horror thriller also starring the actor's real-life wife Emily Blunt. Like he did in The Office, Krasinski has continued to play characters that audiences find relatable, and by the sounds of things, Jack Ryan is going to also have that every man feel when the series debuts on Amazon Prime later this summer.

According to THR, Krasinski was on-hand for a special pre-screening of Jack Ryan at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival this weekend, where he described the character - portrayed in his early years as an up-and-coming CIA analyst - as a super-charged version of his every man character Jim Halpert. Ryan is a superhero, Krasinski says, but a superhero that's based on "real people." He says:

“I really loved the idea of playing a superhero whose only real superpower is using his brain, and his instincts. It’s very inspiring in the world of superheroes and capes and flying and shooting things out of your hands. It’s nice to focus on real people and real heroes.”

John Krasinski in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan

On top of that, it appears that Krasinski plans on making the series one that everybody can relate to, which is becoming more of a rarity in the new age of political divisiveness in America. He tells THR, "We have not been telling their stories recently, people who believe in this country in a way that is apolitical, that’s about being proud of where you’re from, not which side of the aisle you stand on."

There's no question that Krasinski has the sort of natural qualities to perfectly embody what co-showrunner Carlton Cuse is going for with the new version of the Jack Ryan character, which he tells THR contains "a dash of naivete and idealism" and is "a more morally-centered heroic character." Krasinski's affability easily made him one of the most-beloved characters on The Office - along with his eventual series wife, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) - and that affability will no doubt go a long way with viewers as they begin an entirely new mission with Jack Ryan after he's been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleckj and Chris Pine.

Even though the eight-episode first season of Jack Ryan won't start streaming until the end of the summer, apparently the tone of the series has impressed Amazon enough to already give Jack Ryan a season 2 order, which reportedly begins shooting in Columbia in July.