James Bond Meets Jack Ryan In Netflix's 6-Hour Espionage Thriller

Published Jul 24, 2026, 6:30 PM EDT Sean is a senior writer for ScreenRant and has been writing about new TV releases since December 2023. He has received multiple advance screenings of popular shows and ideated his own coverage read by hundreds of thousands of readers. Sean is a self-published author of a Western novel. Sean has also written award-winning opinion pieces related to local politics while getting his Bachelor's degree in journalism. James Bond and Jack Ryan are two of the most notable characters in the history of the espionage thriller genre, and a six-hour series on Netflix combines the best of them into one incredible show. While it is quite popular, the spy thriller genre is really propped up by only a handful of major franchises. From the over two dozen James Bond movies spread across over half a century to the five actors who have played Jack Ryan over the years, these franchises have been dominating the genre for decades. There are definitely great spy thrillers that come from other franchises, like the Jason Bourne movies and Mission: Impossible, and some of the best spy thrillers of all time aren't connected to James Bond or Jack Ryan, like Argo and The Manchurian Candidate. Still, 007 and Jack Ryan are the titans of the genre, and they set the gold standard for every espionage thriller that came after them. Every subsequent movie and show has been trying to match what they created. Luckily, some of the best shows on Netflix are spy thrillers like The Night Agent, Black Doves, and Treason. One of the streamer's absolute best espionage thrillers, however, only lasted a single, six-episode season. Still, even with a runtime that can be binged in a single night, Bodyguard starring Richard Madden is able to recapture the magic of both James Bond and Jack Ryan, both in terms of action and in terms of intrigue. Netflix's Bodyguard Has All The Spy Thrills & Romance Of A James Bond Movie No other spy thriller does major action set pieces and heart-racing thrills like the James Bond movies do, except for Bodyguard. Bodyguard follows David Budd (Madden), a veteran of the Afghanistan war who rises to prominence as a British police officer after foiling an attempted suicide bombing on a train. Because of his fame, Budd is assigned to protect Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) while also dealing with a string of terrorist attacks. Bodyguard is absolutely stuffed to the gills with pulse-quickening scenes and high-stress moments of action. Budd's role as a bodyguard allows for some great action scenes where he's protecting Julia, some great car chases, explosions, and everything else you could want out of a spy thriller. While it doesn't have the same scale as James Bond, Bodyguard executes it just as well, and it will be entirely familiar to fans of Daniel Craig's newer outings as 007. Bodyguard also has another similarity to James Bond: its romantic subplot. While he isn't half the womanizer 007 is, Budd and Julia have an endlessly compelling and intricate relationship that is absolutely charged with chemistry. It's such an interesting dynamic, and both Madden and Hawes play off one another perfectly. Bodyguard, once again, doesn't have the volume of James Bond, but it handles its romance just as expertly. Bodyguard Also Has Enough Political Intrigue & Conspiracy To Rival Jack Ryan While Bodyguard does have many of the features that make James Bond so great, it also blends them with features from Jack Ryan. Like the earlier franchise, and especially 2018's Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Bodyguard knows when to slow things down and let its political intrigue and conspiracy thrills do the heavy lifting. There are parts of Bodyguard where a single conversation carries as much weight and importance as any shootout or standoff. In many ways, Bodyguard is essentially the British version of Jack Ryan. Both of the protagonists are highly skilled and incredibly capable veterans who rise through the ranks of their respective governments. Both are engaged in extremely high stakes conspiracies, and their own reputation and survival are often on the line. There's political intrigue, covert operations, and they even both take a very modern approach to the espionage thriller genre by diving headfirst into the Information Age. Bodyguard really is the best of both worlds when it comes to espionage thrillers. It has the action, romance, and cool factor of James Bond, but it also has the whip-smart writing, fascinatingly complex conspiracies, and thrilling political intrigue of Jack Ryan. Plus, with just six episodes, Bodyguard is the perfect show to watch in one or two sittings for any spy thriller fan. Release Date 2018 - 2018-00-00