'Jack Ryan' TV Show Latest News: John Krasinski Will Make Iconic Character Funny, Actor Was First Choice For Role

The TV adaptation of Tom Clancy's novels featuring the hero "Jack Ryan" is currently in development for Amazon's streaming service, Amazon Prime. The show is going to be starred by John Krasinski with producer Carlton Cuse overseeing the project.

According to Cuse, the "Jack Ryan" TV version will feature a funny lead character. This is partly why they knew that John Krasinsksi would be perfect for the part. The actor is the first choice for the show.

"Krasinski was the first guy that really came into our mind," Cuse confirmed, per IGN. They had this idea that "Jack Ryan" would feature a lead character who is both physically fit and cerebral, but being a funny man would be a bonus.

John Krasinski has shown he's all three with roles like Jim Halpert in the comedy series "The Office" and as a special forces solider in the action movie "13 Hours." "The fact that he is a funny, charming guy is part of the way in which we make that character our own for this iteration of the show," Cuse said, per Screen Crush.

While waiting for the new Jack Ryan series to be greenlit by Amazon as a straight-to-series show, creator Carlton Cuse says, "Krasinski was the first guy that really came into our mind. We had seen him in 13 Hours, and he got kind of all jacked up for that movie. He looks fantastic. The character needs to be cerebral and also physical, and then John has the extra added benefit of being funny, and that's something that I also think ha not really been fully realized in the other incarnations of the character. That seemed like a really great opportunity was to bring his particular brand of humor to this iteration of Jack Ryan." #johnkrasinski #jackryan #amazon #carltoncruse #ign

A photo posted by Daily John Krasinski (@daily_john.k) on Aug 11, 2016 at 6:35am PDT

Initially, the producers wanted to base "Jack Ryan" from the novel "Clear and Present Danger," which was also adapted into a movie starring Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan. But Cuse decided against it eventually. "It just felt dated," he said per Dark Horizons.

"Jack Ryan" for television will be an updated version, which will tackle relevant security and intelligence issues such as the ISIS. Suffice to say it will be an original story, but its theme and characters will be based on Clancy's successful creation.

Cuse further revealed that because Clancy's novels on the character are lengthy, doing a ten-hour series would tell a better story than doing a movie. However, it's still not yet determined when Amazon is setting "Jack Ryan" on its schedule of releases. The show received a straight-to-series order back in September, which is a first for Amazon. Per a previous Parent Herald report, Amazon usually orders a pilot episode first and will only follow up the show with a full season order after enough subscribers have picked up the first episode.