Amazon’s rebooted Jack Ryan series has found its female lead.
Abbie Cornish, star of Sucker Punch, has climbed aboard as Cathy Mueller, a “doctor specializing in infectious diseases. She is intelligent, competitive, a rising star in the medical world and Jack’s love interest.” First reported by Deadline, this is the latest coup for Amazon’s straight-to-series adaptation, which previously recruited 13 Hours alum John Krasinski as Tom Clancy’s title spy.
Pitched as a ten-part series, Jack Ryan reportedly has no intention of shying away from button-pressing issues, with real-world topics including that surrounding the Islamic State set to filter into the storyline. Krasinski, meanwhile, will soon add his name to a long line of actors that have portrayed Ryan on screens big and small, one which includes Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and, more recently, Chris Pine for Shadow Recruit.
Carlton Cuse (Bates Motel, The Strain) will executive produce, and recently likened Amazon’s Jack Ryan blueprint to a “ten-part movie.”
“We’re doing 10 episodes and I think the interesting part about it is exactly what you said, everything’s changed so much; the line between film and TV has blurred so much over the years, I think Jack Ryan is a product of that blurring so much that I think that they’re not even really considering it a TV show, they’re calling it a movie that’s being told in 10 parts; and that’s not just an argument of semantics, it’s actually true. Carlton Cuse’s whole plan is we’re gonna shoot it on a movie budget, we’re gonna have the same stunts as movies, it’s gonna feel like a movie but you’re gonna watch it every week. His whole idea was he just felt that two hours wasn’t enough time to tell a Jack Ryan story because Tom Clancy’s books are so detailed and rich, and the character of Jack Ryan if he has a superpower is his intelligence, so there’s a lot of problem solving and things that take time, and that’s the beauty of the spy genre. That’s what I found was the best pitch to me is it’s really just what’s the best format to tell this story?”
Expect the rebooted Jack Ryan series to storm onto Amazon late next year.
