Forget Jack Ryan. Alec Baldwin tried to make him cool in 1990. Harrison Ford did his best in ’92 and ‘94. Then Ben Affleck dropped a turd in 2002. And does anyone even remember Chris Pine’s attempt in 2014? The jury’s still out on John Krasinski’s recently-released Amazon show, but overall, Hollywood has really failed to fully realize the famous Tom Clancy character. So, now the plan is to hire Michael B. Jordan and kick Jack Ryan to the curb. Let’s welcome your new favorite Tom Clancy character John Clark to the mix!
Variety is reporting that Paramount has just signed superstar Michael B. Jordan to play the Clancy CIA badass John Clark in two upcoming feature films, kicking off what they hope is a new franchise. The first two films are reported to be “Rainbow Six” (which if you play video games, you’ll probably recognize) and “Without Remorse,” both of which are based on best-selling Clancy novels.
READ MORE: Did ‘A Quiet Place’ Just Save Paramount Pictures’ Year?
John Clark is basically the action star to Jack Ryan’s desk jockey. While analyst Ryan gets the starring roles in the earlier Clancy novels, Clark is always shown as the supporting character that gets thrown into the action. Of course, later novels, like those mentioned above, feature Clark eventually stepping into the starring role.
Jordan’s addition is the good news. However, there’s sadly a bit of troubling news about the new Paramount franchise. Namely, the fact that Akiva Goldsman is in charge of the franchise. Goldsman is the man who brought audiences some great films throughout his career, including winning an Academy Award for his screenplay for “A Beautiful Mind.” However, his good projects are greatly outweighed by the bad. Here’s a small selection of films he either produced, wrote, or both: “Batman Forever,” “Batman & Robin,” “Lost in Space” (the 1998 movie), “Jonah Hex,” “Winter’s Tale” (which he wrote, produced, and directed), “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” “Transformers: The Last Knight,” and “The Dark Tower.” So yeah, not a great track record.
READ MORE: Michael B. Jordan Explains Why He Only Wanted Roles Written For White Men
That being said, Jordan is also on board as a producer, and with his star power being what it is, he’s likely going to have some say in how the films come out. So maybe, he’ll be the guy who keeps Goldsman’s efforts on the “A Beautiful Mind” side of things.
The next step is for Paramount to meet with writers and directors for the first film in the series “Without Remorse,” which will be the origin story for the character. With Jordan attached, it looks like the John Clark series could be a hot property for the right filmmaker to take. We’ll see.