Looking back at the history of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, the series will partially be remembered for John Krasinski’s unique approach to the character. The four-season saga on Prime Video’s 2023 TV schedule will also be remembered as a resurgence of the serious, mission-focused drama that the Ryan-verse has always traded in.
With that sort of ethos, I thought that even the set itself would be a serious affair, in the midst of all the counterterrorism action that goes into the mix. That was, until members of the cast told me about how they kept things light during shooting, which apparently involved a good amount of fart humor.
As I was on hand for the press day of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, speaking with Michael Peńa and Louis Ozawa revealed that lightness on set. In particular, Peńa hinted at that reality, when he shared the following with CinemaBlend:
Yeah, I mean we also had a good time on set. Everybody was joking around. Everyone did their homework, and was professional, but definitely had a good time. Hopefully it shows.
That knowledge was revealed in response to a comment where I noted that although Peńa’s Domingo “Ding” Chavez and Ozawa’s Chao Fah are technically on different sides of the law, there’s still a magnetic chemistry between them even in battle. Based on what we know about Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Season 4, the conflict that’s about to take place this season is great enough to end a series on. So it’s good to know that everyone got to decompress for a bit, even when massive moves of geopolitical destabilization were on the table.
With that in mind, I was deeply curious what the shenanigans of choice were, and what sort of moments arose from them. This is where Louis Ozawa jumped in with an anecdote about those farts that were promised at the top of this story. But alongside that response, Michael Peńa further explained just why levity is important on a project such as this. Here’s what Peńa and Ozawa told CinemaBlend:
Louis Ozawa: "There’d be hours in the car. Hours in the car, a lot of silly sophomoric flatulence humor, if I may add. We like to keep it loose in-between takes, even in the most dramatic situations."
Michael Peńa: "Well sometimes … you’re an adult, you’re doing something, and at the end of the day you realize what you’re doing. You’re acting and you’re pretending, sometimes you’re pretending that you’re driving. And if you step out of character for like just a second in-between shots, you realize just how crazy it is, the things that you’re doing, and what you’re being paid for. I have it almost every project, you’re like, ‘This is what I do for a job.’ And somebody coming in, he’s like, ‘Yeah, can I see you drive again?’ ‘Can I see a left hand turn?’ … It just seems crazy sometimes, grown ups playing make believe. When you step out of it, that’s when it can look funny."
It might seem a bit odd to bring up make believe when taking into account the counterterrorism drama those with a Prime Video subscription should expect from Jack Ryan. The more serious aspects are technically what’s kept the Tom Clancy brand in business ever since the beginning, with the ultimate boy scout at the center of most of them.
That said, even as far back as The Hunt for Red October, a streak of snarky humor has run through the entire franchise, which could be another criteria to rank the Jack Ryan actors of past and present against. With actors like Louis Ozawa and Michael Peńa understanding the balance between the two moods while making Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan helps make sure neither end is oversold.
That sort of reflex only serves the potential future all the better, as Peńa’s in-development Clancy-verse spinoff could potentially keep this successful enterprise going. For now, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is about to embark on its final season, starting with its two episode premiere on June 30th. While there’s still plenty of fun jokes to be enjoyed, upon last inspection, sadly none are fart-related.
