Chris Pine (Star Trek) is in negotiations with Paramount to become the fourth actor to portray Jack Ryan, the character from Tom Clancy’s novels previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. At the last update, the script was known to be an original by Hossein Amini (The Four Feathers, Killshot) rather than an adaptation of one of Clancy’s many Ryan books. Of course, the novels that featured a younger Ryan were all heavy with the Cold War influence so it’s unlikely would Paramount would want to use those stories to relaunch the franchise.
Speaking of which, is this franchise even worth anything? Don’t get me wrong, I liked The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger quite a bit (I never bothered with The Sum of All Fears), but come 2011 or whenever, would the Jack Ryan name really a draw? At this point in time it seems to me that Tom Clancy is best known as a video game brand name more than for his novels. Maybe they should follow Ubi Soft’s lead and preface the title with Tom Clancy’s name. Perhaps Paramount will opt to use one of the novels’ titles just to trigger a connection for some people, even without using any of its content. I just don’t see much point in revisiting the character at this point. Just create a new agent without the complicated history, the convoluted and numerous different versions, etc. No matter how hard they try, Jack Ryan will never be James Bond.
