Previewing the Final Season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan 

[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]

Jack’s back this Friday when Prime Video drops the first two of the final six episodes of the espionage thriller, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. Flipping the playbook from its single-day drop of all eight episodes of the previous season, Prime Video is teasing them out two at a time for Season 4.

Set a few months after Season 3, the action shifts from Europe to Myanmar, Mexico, Nigeria, and Washington, DC, where Jack is the newly installed Acting Deputy Director of the CIA in the middle of giving testimony to a Senate committee, trying hard to convince them that his rogue actions were a one-off. [Insert “Sure, Jan” here.]

While he and now Acting Director Elizabeth Wright (Betty Gabriel) are intent on running a tighter ship amid the public fallout from the last assignment, they’re pulled into course correcting the actions of former Director Thomas Miller (John Schwab). Doing so puts them in the crosshairs of a deeply embedded agent, Domingo Chavez (Michael Peña), who surfaces when his funds dry up.

Once Jack’s read in to how deep Miller’s ops went, he’s on a plane heading off to avert another mass casualty event while Elizabeth and James Greer (Wendell Pierce) manage things from Washington. Add to the mix the always-delightful Mike November (Michael Kelly), who’s called into help and quickly he, Jack, and Chavez are peas in a pod. And then Greer joins in and we’re just spoiled. Seriously. They wouldn’t even have to be saving the world for me to enjoy watching this quartet just riff off each other.

We also get the return of Jack’s true love, Cathy Muller (Abbie Cornish), who is canon from the books. Her arc to provide aid for a Myanmar-based refugee group eventually intersects with Jack’s travels, as he heads there to meet with an asset, Chao Fah (Louis Ozawa), who holds the key to shutting down a weapon.

The rest of the cast this season includes Zuleikha Robinson as Zeyara Lemos, the head of a global outreach organization and Okieriete Onaodowan as Adebayo “Ade” Osoji, a lobbyist who helps Elizabeth navigate mending fences with two powerful factions in Nigeria.

It’s an often fun, fast-moving season that gives everyone a little bit to do and brings the action to a satisfying close. While he’s in DC, we learn more about Greer’s family relationships and what being a company man has meant for his home life. If we’re to believe chatter last spring, Peña’s Chavez, who recurs in the books, is being seeded for a possible spinoff, which would be especially fab if it also included some of the ensemble featured here.

Barring one completely unnecessary extended torture porn scene toward the end, I really liked these final episodes and getting to see the crew mount up for one last mission. When the series was announced, Krasinski was stepping into a role that had been rubber stamped by Harrison Ford way back there, with two one-off attempts by Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. Over the course of four seasons and 30 episodes, Krasinski put his own spin on it, and I’m so glad he did, and that we got to meet the extended cast of characters.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan premieres its fourth season with the first two episodes streaming at 3:01 am ET Friday, June 30th, on Prime Video. The remainder of the season will air two episodes at a time over the subsequent two Fridays. You can catch the first three seasons now on Prime Video. Here’s a sneak peek of the final season.

Photos courtesy of Jonny Cournoyer and Attila Szvacsek for Prime Video, video courtesy of Prime Video.