Jack Ryan: John Krasinski cast as the Tom Clancy hero in new Amazon series

The Office star will be the fifth actor to take on Clancy's most iconic fictional character, following 2014's Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan lives, with the character about to get his fifth onscreen iteration in the form of The Office's own John Krasinski.

The actor's been cast as the lead in a new Jack Ryan television series (via Deadline), commissioned by Amazon Studios; following his recent shift from his comedic beginnings towards the action genre, fuelled by his role in Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

The series places late author Tom Clancy's most iconic creation in the present day, taking heavy inspiration from the novels without adapting any specific storyline; a move unlike Ryan's previous onscreen outings.

Alec Baldwin played the character in 1990's The Hunt for Red October, Harrison Ford played him in both Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), Ben Affleck filled the role for The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Chris Pine less successfully trotted the character out for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014).

The show already has onboard the former Lost-duo of co-showrunner Carlton Cuse and writer Graham Roland; though it's yet to be officially greenlit, Krasinski's casting could be what's needed for the straight-to-series show to officially roll into production.