Supply chain superhero Jack Ryan hits the TV screen

The first time readers met Jack Ryan was as a character in the pages of Tom Clancy’s 1984 spy thriller “The Hunt for Red October.” 

Clancy soon brought the fictional C.I.A. analyst back in books like “Patriot Games,” “Clear and Present Danger,” “The Sum of All Fears,” and a dozen more. Alec Baldwin played Ryan in the 1990 film version of Red October before Harrison Ford took over the drama and suspense franchise.

Well, now Jack Ryan is back again, and he has a new cover identity—a supply chain logistician for the U.S. Department of State who stumbles onto a terrorist communication pattern that unveils a looming global threat.

Amazon.com Inc. is launching the original TV series on Friday on its Prime Video network, and judging by the trailer, the supply chain superhero will have no problem dispatching terrorists as he trades in his sport coat and cocktail party chatter for body armor, live grenades, and automatic handguns.

“Don't judge an analyst by his cover” is the tagline for the series, which features a new actor in the title role—John Krasinski, who was previously best known for his work in the comedy TV series “The Office.” Krasinski starts off the new series reprising that role, as he plays a modest pencil-pusher with a desk job who has trouble impressing his dinner date with tales of shuffling manifests and receipts… until his job suddenly catapults him into danger.

Listen in at the 25-second mark of this trailer to hear Krasinski field questions about his job from the actor Abbie Cornish, who plays his dinner date.

“So, what exactly does a state department supply chain logistician do?” Cornish asks. “I work behind a desk; I write reports,” Krasinski replies, waving off his career as being “boring”… until a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter suddenly lands on the lawn of a fancy reception to whisk him off to a Pentagon briefing and then to chase terrorists in Yemen.

You know, just another typical day as a supply chain logistician.