Jack Ryan (character)

John Patrick "Jack" Ryan is a character created by American author Tom Clancy in 1984. He is the main character of the Ryanverse series of novels, films, video games, and a TV series. Clancy wrote fourteen novels featuring Ryan, which have charted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. A former U.S. Marine lieutenant and stockbroker, Ryan worked as a civilian history professor at the United States Naval Academy. He became an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War. He goes up the ranks at the CIA, eventually becoming Deputy Director. After a brief retirement, Ryan served as National Security Advisor and Vice President before becoming President of the United States following a terrorist attack at the United States Capitol. He went on to serve two non-consecutive terms and mostly dealt with international crises in Europe, South America, and Asia. Since Clancy's death in 2013, there have been other authorized writers of novels featuring Ryan, including Mark Greaney, Marc Cameron, Andrews and Wilson, and Ward Larsen. Additionally, a spin-off series featuring Ryan's son Jack Junior was written by Grant Blackwood, Mike Maden, Don Bentley, and M. P. Woodward. Ryan has been portrayed in adaptations by actors Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, and John Krasinski. The film series from 1990 to 2014 have an unadjusted worldwide gross revenue of $788.4 million to date, making it the 57th-highest-grossing film series. A television series from Amazon Prime Video ran from 2018 to 2023, followed by a feature film in 2026.