10 Thrilling TV Shows to Scratch Your 'Jack Ryan' Itch
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We’ve all had a year to prepare since it was announced that Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’s fourth season would be its last. After five seasons, the Prime Video series carved its place into the annals of political thriller history. They transformed The Office’s John Krasinski from a harmless everyman to a legit action hero.
Based on Tom Clancy's series of novels featuring Jack Ryan, the Prime Video series tells the story of a CIA analyst turned tactical agent after sticking his nose too deep into terrorists' business. Regardless of your thoughts about the final episodes, you can't deny the adrenaline, despair, and short-lived mania you felt bingeing through Jack's latest battle with international treachery. But you don't have to say goodbye to those feelings.
There's no shortage of political thrillers to stream after Jack Ryan's end. If a deluge of supervillains who get increasingly ridiculous in their exploits is your thing, NBC's The Blacklist has a decade's worth of diabolical mischief to sift through. For those who want more cerebral but no less violent spies (with wigs that range from disrespectfully bad to enviably good), FX's The Americans is a class of its own. But, if you want to see where these 21st-century political thrillers got their inspiration from, look no further than 24.
These 10 thriller shows like Jack Ryan will give you the anxiety-filled comfort your body craves.
Homeland (2011-2020)
If Jack Ryan thwarting coordinated terrorist attacks and a plot to bring the Soviet Union back gave you an adrenaline shot, Carrie Mathison ignoring her bipolar medication to figure out who bombed the CIA headquarters will have you skipping eye blinks. For a second, let's forget about the Golden Globe and Emmy Awards the show garnered and the millions of people tuned in weekly to see how Carrie's relationship with possible American terrorist Nicholas Brody is going and which country she's illegally infiltrating. For nearly a decade, Homeland was the type of gripping political thriller where the terror in the backroom negotiations about drone bombing a Pakistani wedding to only kill one terrorist is as shocking as the bombing itself. That's because it does an immaculate job of delving into the psyche of the humans who decide who lives and who dies— without us ever knowing.
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The Blacklist (2013-2023)
When the center of your show's world is a man referred to as the "concierge of crime," Jack Ryan-esque strategic mayhem is par for the course. A day before Jack Ryan's series finale, NBC bid farewell to The Blacklist, the network's series about governmental subterfuge and murder. FBI's most wanted man Raymond Reddington, played with unflappable cool by James Spader for a decade, takes viewers into a covert task force built around him, feeding them nefarious criminals they never knew existed in exchange for immunity and, as we learn, much more. The Blacklist excels at its rare ability to balance multiple storylines worthy of their own series in each episode, including Reddington's paternal connection to one of the FBI agents, the true identity of Reddington (We still don't know if he's really Reddington!), and some of the wildest criminal exploits ever. In one episode, men who advocated against abortions are kidnapped, given synthetic uteruses, impregnated by rapists, and forced to give birth to those children or get the abortion they rallied against. And that's not even one of the ten wildest storylines from the best political thriller NBC has produced in years.
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The Americans (2013-2018)
Shifting alliances, Soviet Union propaganda, and sex espionage are only a few factors that connect Jack Ryan with The Americans. FX's best and most criminally underrated spy thriller left our TV screens in 2018. But, for six heart-pounding seasons, Phillip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) balance the challenges of blending in as married parents in an American suburb in the 1980s with their true identity as Cold War spies from Russia sent to destabilize the very country they've built a home in. The litany of complex and expertly developed characters that find their way into this intercontinental conspiracy range from a love-stricken FBI secretary turned co-conspirator to an elderly Russian handler who will slit someone's throat after paralyzing them. The Americans should be the first show you watch once your Jack Ryan cravings come back.
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The Night Agent (2023- )
Jack Ryan went from a cushy desk job to being thrown into a terrorist plot, and The Night Agent's Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) finds himself in a similar predicament. Watching someone go from the shock of a fish out of water to a hardened killer is one of the most thrilling tropes in all of TV history. Come for the choreographed fight scenes that'll have you reflexively mimicking them against invisible foes in your bedroom, but stay for the governmental backstabbing and lethal daddy issues.
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Designated Survivor (2016-2019)
Rule of thumb: If Kiefer Sutherland is embroiled in any sort of governmental upheaval, tune in. Where Jack Ryan is told from the perspective of a CIA analyst who becomes the acting deputy director after a series of unfortunate events, Designated Survivor is what happens a bit higher up the political food chain. Everyone in front of Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) to take the President of the United States job is suspiciously murdered, and that's just the start of his problems. Although the series was unceremoniously canceled after leaving ABC for Netflix, that shouldn't deter you from going on this thrill ride.
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The Mosquito Coast (2021- )
Apple TV's The Mosquito Coast makes the very convincing case that Allie Fox (Justin Theroux) is the worst television father after forcing his children and wife to live on the run from the U.S. government in order to protect his invention from getting into the wrong hands. For two seasons, Allie and his family are run out of their secluded country home where they couldn't have cell phones, let alone friends, and into treacherous Mexican locales, all in search of salvation they all can't agree on. When you can make weather patterns and a broken ship the crux of breath-stopping suspense, you have a winner in the thriller department.
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The Recruit (2022- )
From nobody to somebody in a lot of mayhem is the spirit of Jack Ryan and Netflix's surprise hit The Recruit. Noah Centineo catapulted himself into the action hero realm with his portrayal of Owen Hendricks, a CIA lawyer fresh out of law school who's been pushed out of his depths into an international clusterfuck after he's tasked with handling an Eastern European CIA asset threatening to leak secrets. Strap in and let Netflix's newest spy thriller take you on a ride Jack Ryan has more than prepared you for.
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Citadel (2023- )
Picture this: two people leading everyday lives were abruptly disrupted by news that they were once international spies who had their memories wiped and must now fight to complete their most challenging mission yet. Stanley Tucci, Richard Madden, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas are a formidable ensemble leading the charge of Amazon's reported $300 million franchise starter. There are enough gun theatrics, brooding baddies, and feverish sexual tension to satiate anyone craving for the wild times of Jack Ryan.
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The Diplomat (2023 - )
Yes, Keri Russell has been on this list twice. Why? She has the acting range to disrupt international negotiations in one show by secretly snapping a few necks (The Americans) and bludgeoning the male ego with logic in another show (The Diplomat). The blood and murder on the Netflix political drama is a fraction of what you're used to on Jack Ryan, but the savvy maneuvering that got Jack out of a few bullet-filled pickles is on display in The Diplomat. And the Season 1 ending will have you ready to call Netflix's corporate offices to find out why they're depriving you of Season 2.
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24 (2001-2007, 2008, 2009-2010, 2014)
If there were a Jack Ryan family tree, the granddaddy of the 21st-century spy thriller would be in it. Over nine seasons, one film, and 13 years, Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) led masterclasses on bringing down terrorists by any means necessary. Brilliantly breaking down episodes into 60-minute slices of Bauer's chaotic day makes the fictional stakes feel real. Jack Ryan likely wouldn't exist without 24's influence, so hit play on this classic series and pay homage.
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