John Krasinski on evolving from ‘The Office’ to ‘Jack Ryan’: ‘Fans came along for the ride’

Hollywood star John Krasinski has come a long way in his career. Over the years, he has built different fan bases with a gamut of characters that he essayed on screen. While some still adore his portrayal of Jim Halpert in the hit sitcom 'The Office', which ran for over a decade, others continue to rave over his action-packed performance in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series.

It was 2018 when John entered the iconic Jack Ryan franchise, establishing himself as a full-fledged action star. It stunned cinephiles who mainly had his goofy sitcom image in their minds.

In a recent interview with ANI, John opened up about the lessons he learnt while filming the popular 'The Office' show, how he always wanted to evolve as an actor, and expressed gratitude to fans for believing in him and accepting him as the legendary Jack Ryan, a character previously portrayed by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine in profilic writer Tom Clancy's "Ryanverse".

"It (Jack Ryan) was very different from The Office. But I thought if I'm a good enough actor, I should be able to do these different things. And I'm just lucky enough that the fans came along for the ride and acknowledged that I could do it. So now that they've given me that trust, I'm just going to keep doing them and hopefully making people happy doing so," he expressed.

Krasinski is currently gearing up for the release of Prime Video's film Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War, which follows up four seasons of Krasinski's television series of the same name and meets the title character after he has departed the CIA and returns to civilian life.

Since Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War is the sixth and latest instalment in the franchise, expectations among fans are naturally high.

When asked whether he feels pressure about not letting fans down, John shared his thoughts on carrying forward the legacy of the iconic character.

"No, I mean, I think that the cool thing and again, I was very lucky to learn it by being on a show like The Office, going forward. And I learned from the greatest Greg Daniels is that you don't try to change for anyone else other than what's right for the characters. And if you keep doing what you're doing, that's why people are watching. And that's why people fall in love with those characters. So don't change them. Just move them around and evolve them as they're supposed to. And people will come along for that ride. So I learned that in the early days from him," he added.

"It (Jack Ryan) was an icon for me as a kid. So growing up, I was a huge Alec Baldwin fan, Harrison Ford fan, even Ben, Chris, everybody that was a part of it. I've seen them all.

So to be a part of this now is pretty surreal. And then getting to do it as a long-form show was thrilling. And we got to, in a way, spend more time with the characters than we ever had before.

And I think that's actually what led me to think about doing a movie, was because people had fallen in love with these characters and were actually spending enough time with them. We get to put them in more of a pressure cooker situation and bring back that idea of a two-hour movie that we grew up on," he shared.

Directed by Andrew Bernstein, the film will be out on May 20.Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”