"Jack Ryan" star John Krasinski says the spy drama genre is making a comeback and that they are the “new superheroes”, with several studios developing franchises around spies.
Amazon’s streaming platform Prime Video, which is home to Krasinski's show, is also developing "Citadel" as a global franchise. Production will soon begin on season three of "The Family Man", the Indian spy thriller fronted by Manoj Bajpayee.
Krasinski, who is returning as the titular spy in "Jack Ryan", said the fourth and final season of the series has more to it than just "espionage and action".
"I have always been a huge fan of spy dramas. But, I think the spy genre is coming back. What is most exciting about our show is that it is not just about espionage and action. It is this fine line where you have a lot of great characters and relationships.
"We have tried our best to make a show based on all the stuff that we have learnt through the intelligence agencies in our contacts there about how things really are. The strains on marriages, the strains on friendship, the strains on all these things in your personal life that you sacrifice in order to go out there. So yes, the spies are the new superheroes," the American actor told PTI in a virtual interview.
The six-episode final season of "Jack Ryan" will follow Krasinski's titular CIA agent on his most dangerous mission yet: facing an enemy both foreign and domestic. It will arrive on Prime Video on June 30.
"As the new CIA Acting Deputy Director, Jack Ryan is tasked with unearthing internal corruption, and in doing so, uncovers a series of suspicious black ops that could expose the vulnerability of the country.
"As Jack and the team investigate how deep the corruption runs, he discovers a far-worse reality the convergence of a drug cartel with a terrorist organisation ultimately revealing a conspiracy much closer to home and testing our hero's belief in the system he has always fought to protect," the official description read.
The 43-year-old actor, best known for playing Jim Halpert in the long-running sitcom "The Office" as well as creating and starring in "A Quiet Place" film franchise, has been the face of "Jack Ryan" since its inception in 2018.
Krasinski, the fifth actor to portray the character after Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine, said he will "absolutely miss playing this role".
"It is not only a role, (it is something) I grew up watching. It was my favourite character to watch, those movies were my favourite. So, to be a part of this is sort of mind blowing for me. The fact that we did it for four seasons and got to explore so many different stories and action-packed avenues was amazing," he added.
Adapted from author Tom Clancy's novels of the same title, the Prime Video original series will also see Michael Kelly and "Suits" star Wendell Pierce reprise their characters of veteran special operations agent Mike November and Ryan's field boss James Greer, respectively.
Kelly, who rose to fame with "House of Cards", said while he can't give too much away about the upcoming chapter, he knows whenever Ryan calls him there is a really good reason behind it.
"For Mike November, it is a call he loves getting because he has got a pretty cool job that he does, little something something on the side. But he knows that when Jack calls it's A, for the right reason, and B, he is going to have a lot of fun," the 54-year-old actor said.
Krasinski said his character calling November in this season is "one of my favourite scenes ever".
"I don't want to give anything away, but the first time I call him it's the best," he quipped.
With his character Greer, Pierce said, the impact a job of an intelligence agent can have on the personal lives of the people was something that they discovered while doing research for the show.
"You see that with my character and Jack's and how important family is to us and how the job itself can have an impact on that and how protective we are of our families, loving them as much as we love our country and the work that we are doing. That was something we recognised when we first started doing research on the role.
"And my contact, my consultant, talked about that a lot when we were developing the characters. And that was something I mentioned to John and he said we were going to incorporate that into the story. So, this season you see that along with everything you have seen coming up to this point, the action, the intrigue and the intelligence," he said.
Asked what Indian fans of "Jack Ryan" must look forward to in the fourth and final installment, Krasinski, pointing to Kelly, said "I mean this guy is going to say 'badass', which I think is a pretty good word for this season."
Kelly went on to agree with his co-star and said, "Badass action."
In a final word, Pierce said the last season was "badass" and about the "convergence" of a drug cartel with a terrorist organisation.
"Remember that word. Convergence. You discover that this season. Very important," he added.
"Jack Ryan" season four also features Betty Gabriel as CIA Acting Director Elizabeth Wright, with Abbie Cornish returning as Cathy Mueller. The newcomers include Michael Pena as Domingo Chavez and Louis Ozawa as Chao Fah.
The show is co-produced by Amazon Studios, Paramount Television Studios, and Skydance Television. It is executive produced by Allyson Seeger, Andrew Form, Krasinski, Brad Fuller, Michael Bay and John Kelly.
