After Amazon’s surprise announcement that the entire third season of Jack Ryan would be made available at the same time, some fans questioned whether Ryan’s future on the streamer was safe.
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Was Amazon dumping all episodes at the same time because it considered the series a loss, or is this a Christmas gift from Prime Video?
Good news: Amazon has already greenlit for the fourth season with Krasinski et al.
Jack Ryan season 3: Courtesy, Amazon Prime Video
In a post from Amazon Advisor (originally on Deadline), it was reported that “While the fourth season is going to be the end of the John Krasinski series, that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the entire franchise. This is a popular franchise […] there is a potential spin-off happening.”
In other words, we’re not saying goodbye to Jack Ryan yet; feel free to binge this weekend.
Putting a period on Jack Ryan was probably Krasinski’s idea
Let’s face it: John Krasinski has become a top-billed talent in Hollywood. At this point, The Office superstar is so sought after he can’t accept the roles he’s offered. Many fans even believe Krasinski’s schedule is what’s behind the lost opportunity to join the MCU after the events of Doctor Strange The Multiverse Of Madness (I can’t wait to not have to type that title again).
But Krasinski hasn’t popped like his NBC colleague Chris Pratt, yet. While Pratt has gone on to lead huge franchises like Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, The Lego Movie, and more, Krasinski has flown under the radar with fan-favorite flicks like A Quiet Place and Free Guy.
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Given how great a push fans have made to see Krasinski lead Marvel’s royal family, it hasn’t hard to imagine John gracefully bowing out after another season of Jack Ryan. The timing is almost perfect.
Fantastic Four drops 2025
Last summer, Kevin Feige gave fans some insight into how the MCU plans on handling the Fantastic Four. In short, the MCU studio’s boss has decided to take a different approach, ruling out origin stories for new characters in the future.
“A lot of people know this origin. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before? We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.”
It makes sense. Fantastic Four has not produced any dividends for Hollywood, but that could be because every F4 has been garbage. Regardless, Feige is right; we don’t need another origin story for this team.
And if Krasinski keeps his role as Reed Richards, skipping an origin story makes sense, given we’ve already been introduced to John’s Mr. Fantastic. Convenient that Krasinski will be wrapping up Jack Ryan around the same time that Fantastic Four would ideally kick off principal photography.
So does this mean Krasinski is Mr. Fantastic?
Unfortunately, we can only speculate at this point. Feige has gone DEFCON 2 with Disney’s cone of silence on Fantastic Four. As he’s made clear, the royal family comes loaded with high expectations. Which likely means better writers, better casting, and much more secrecy.
Things took an even more unambiguous turn recently when, at a press event for Jack Ryan Season 3, Krasinski shared that he had not been asked to return.
“I was honored to do it,” Krasinski said. “I flew right from Budapest when we wrapped and went to the Doctor Strange set. I’m a big fan of all those characters and that world, so to get to play in that sandbox for one day was a real thrill.”
But are there plans to return to the role?
“There aren’t any discussions at all, the only discussion I had was actually in the second-to-last week of Jack Ryan.”
Oof.
In any case, Krasinski fans have at least one more confirmed sighting as development on season four of Jack Ryan has reportedly already begun. Will Krasinski wrap up his commitments with Amazon in time to push for the Richards role?
Only time will tell; Feige and Krasinski sure aren’t.