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"Truly over the moon": Michael Kelly on returning to Jack Ryan, 'pinch-me' moments

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 19 May 2026, 10:26am
Michael Kelly attends Amazon MGM's "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War" World Premiere at Regal Times Square on May 15, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/WireImage)
Michael Kelly attends Amazon MGM's "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War" World Premiere at Regal Times Square on May 15, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/WireImage)

"Truly over the moon": Michael Kelly on returning to Jack Ryan, 'pinch-me' moments

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 19 May 2026, 10:26am

Jack Ryan is returning to our screens.  

After four successful seasons, the modern adaptation of Tom Clancy’s political action thriller novels is heading to the big screen for ‘Jack Ryan: Ghost War’.  

American actor Michael Kelly is among the cast, reprising his role as Mike November for the high-stakes, action-packed story.  

The film heavily utilised practical effects and on-location filming – even closing down the centre of London to film an intense car chase sequence. 

“This whole thing, from the series to the movie, it’s all been a pinch me moment,” Kelly told Mike Hosking. 

“But certainly when you’re standing on that ground that’s hundreds and hundreds of years old, and knowing the feet that have walked across it and just all of it, all of the history that’s there and knowing that you get to shut it down and go play make-believe for a couple of days.” 

“It’s a pinch me without a doubt.” 

Tom Clancy published his first Jack Ryan novel in 1984, and as proof of the series longevity, it’s continued long after his death in 2013, with 30 new novels and a host of adaptations being released.

“Tom Clancy created this world that exists in this, y’know, there’s always geopolitical madness, right?” Kelly told Hosking.  

“Tom Clancy was writing around the Cold War times, but you can take that world and put it in any timeline, I think ... Jack Ryan is so well established that I think it could go on for, y’know, not with us, but it could go on forever and ever.” 

There’s a three-year gap between the conclusion of the TV show and the release of the film, and for Kelly, returning to the Ryanverse was a thrill.  

“When I found out we got, we we’re getting to come back and make a movie, I was, y’know, John [Krasinski] was like, hey man you wanna make a movie? I was like, yeah, I wanna make a movie. Let's go.” 

“I was truly over the moon, thrilled at the thought of coming back and especially playing this character that I just, I love him so much, man, he’s so much fun to play.” 

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