30-Episode Prime Video Action Series Is So Good, It Beats All 5 Movie Versions That Came Before

Published Oct 20, 2026, 3:45 PM EDT Mary Kassel is a Senior Writer & Critic who joined the Screen Rant team in 2023. After graduating from Emerson College with a degree in Media Arts Production, Kassel started at Screen Rant with a focus on the critical analysis side of movies and television while continuing to work on set in film production. At Screen Rant, Kassel primarily writes for the Classic TV section, mining their encyclopedic knowledge of television history for content. However, they also contribute to the Books team and review both film and television as a critic. Prime Video has been putting out some of the best TV shows in the action thriller genre in years, beating out movies within the same franchises. Reacher is Prime's action show that's made the biggest impact in recent years, inspiring the hit spinoff, Neagley, which has proven to be a worthy addition to Prime's thriller lineup and the Reacher universe. It's through projects like Reacher and Neagley that Prime Video has shown just how well thrillers can work on TV. It's not uncommon for the best action thrillers to be based on novels or movie series. There's a longstanding tradition of rebooting and reimagining the familiar heroes of the genre, like Jack Reacher or James Bond. However, perfect spy thrillers based on beloved IP are hard to come by, as they have to balance audience expectations while pushing themselves to modernize the stories and appeal to a wide range of viewers. This makes it even more satisfying when a truly great TV adaptation hits screens. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Prime Video's 2018 show that brought Tom Clancy's novel series to life, is a great example of how to revive a franchise. There have been many takes on the Jack Ryan universe, beginning in 1990 with the critically acclaimed The Hunt for Red October. However, as fun as the Jack Ryan films have been, there was always something missing, until Prime's four-season TV show changed everything. Amazon's Jack Ryan Series Is The Best Version Of Tom Clancy's Character ©Amazon / Courtesy: Everett Collection One of the reasons Prime's Jack Ryan show works is because the series finally found an actor prepared to bring the character to the modern era. John Krasinski portrays Jack Ryan, and the actor easily slips into the role of an action hero. In the five previous movies that adapted Clancy's work, no actor had struck the right tone as the titular character. Of course, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine were all excellent choices to play Ryan in the films, but they didn't have the chance to fully explore the character like Krasinski. Thanks to the long-form storytelling of TV, Krasinski got to dig into the details of Jack Ryan's inner world and make him unforgettable. Jack Ryan deserved another season to wrap up the character arcs and give Jack Ryan the ending audiences had been waiting decades for. Though the 2026 film follow-up to the series, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War, attempted to close the loop on Jack Ryan and give Krasinski's version a satisfying sendoff, it had its problems. The 2026 Jack Ryan Movie Couldn't Live Up To Its TV Predecessor Ghost War was a nostalgic return to the Jack Ryan universe, but it didn't have the same appeal as the original TV series. It had been three years since Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan went off the air, and so expectations were high for the film's continuation of the story. However, Ghost War lost what made the TV show reboot so successful. Instead of leaning into the source material and finding innovative ways to make it appeal to contemporary audiences, Ghost War felt like an attempt to make more money by recycling old plots. It's not a terrible movie, and there's still plenty of fun to be had seeing the beloved characters return to screens. However, compared to the impact of the show, Jack Ryan: Ghost War doesn't have much to say about politics and culture. Without Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, it's unlikely that Prime Video would have the same hold it does on the action thriller genre today. Release Date 2018 - 2023-00-00 Network Prime Video Showrunner Carlton Cuse Cast Wendell Pierce James Greer Directors Jann Turner, Andrew Bernstein, Dennie Gordon, Kevin Dowling, Lukas Ettlin, Patricia Riggen, David Petrarca, Phil Abraham, Carlton Cuse, Morten Tyldum Writers Amy Berg, Dario Scardapane, Nolan Dunbar, Vince Calandra, David Graziano, Steven Kane, Marc Halsey, Robert Port Franchise(s) Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan Creator(s) Graham Roland, Carlton Cuse