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Michael Bay and Lost team to create new Jack Ryan TV series

Middle-aged dads and spy-novel fanatics everywhere are foaming at the mouth; famed Tom Clancy spy character Jack Ryan looks to be getting his own TV show, according to Deadline.

The project is a popular one with the studios, especially because explosion specialist and miner of our childhoods Michael Bay is set to produce.

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The show, which will be helmed by former Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse and writer Graham Roland, will focus on novel-influenced stories that take place in the middle of Ryan’s career as a CIA agent/analyst. The series, however, will be set in present day.

Ryan first appeared in Clancy’s best-selling 1984 novel The Hunt for Red October, and was then given a starring roll in eight other books by the author, who passed away in 2013. He starts as a marine officer who leaves the military following a helicopter crash, becomes a stock broker, then re-enters the military as a naval academy professor before being recruited by the CIA. Apart from the novels, of course, Ryan has been a profitable onscreen character, famously played by Harrison Ford, but also by a young Alec Baldwin, as well as Chris Pine, and Ben Affleck.

One thing about the new series is clear: if the producers are going to follow up Ryan’s excellent big-screen adventures — which include blockbusters like The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears, they are going to need one heck of a casting director. As the list above can attest, Ryan has only ever been played by A-listers.

Though any small-screen effort involving spies seems to be inevitably met with some level of success — just look at the fervor for shows like Fox’s 24 — the Jack Ryan franchise did experience something of a recent flop, with 2014’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Chris Pine’s turn) failing to live up to the high reputation of previous Clancy classics.

That said, most moviegoers were dedicated fans, and the film still grossed over $100 million worldwide, so all signs point to a TV show featuring Clancy’s premier character being a profitable one.

Parker Hall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
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