The Ryanverse franchise focuses on the character Jack Ryan, a fictional CIA analyst created in 1984 by American author Tom Clancy, who appeared in fourteen of his novels. It also features CIA operative John Clark and The Campus, a covert counter-terrorism and intelligence organization. Since Clancy's death in 2013, five other authors have written authorized novels featuring Ryan and the Campus: Mark Greaney, Marc Cameron, Andrews and Wilson, and Ward Larsen. In addition, a spin-off series featuring Ryan's son Jack Junior was written by Grant Blackwood, Mike Maden, Don Bentley, M. P. Woodward, and Jack Stewart. The latest novel is Pressure Depth by Stewart, a Jack Junior novel published in September 2026.
Clancy's novels featuring the Ryanverse have charted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list, selling more than 100 million copies. They have been adapted for film, video games, and television. The films, starring Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine as Ryan, have an unadjusted worldwide gross revenue of $788.4 million to date, making it the 57th-highest-grossing film series. Amazon Prime Video has also released a television series and feature film featuring John Krasinski as Ryan and a spinoff film featuring Michael B. Jordan as Clark. In addition, Clark has appeared in the Rainbow Six series of video games.
Publication history Concept and creation
Clancy developed the Jack Ryan character while working as an insurance agent in Maryland, drawing extensively from his early interests and personal background. Clancy, who grew up in an Irish-American family in Baltimore and was unable to serve in the military due to nearsightedness, developed a passion for military history and strategy from an early age. He was described as a "nerd" who enjoyed playing military board games and was an avid reader of military history books and science fiction.
The author's research methodology became central to his character and world-building process. Many of Clancy's insurance clients were former nuclear submariners, both officers and enlisted personnel, whose expertise he systematically gathered. He conducted extensive research using military publications such as Armed Forces Weekly and Jane's Defence Weekly, and collaborated with subject experts ranging from Soviet defectors to retired Air Force generals. Clancy based his first novel on the real-life attempted defection of the crew of the Soviet frigate Storozhevoy to Sweden.
According to character sketches discovered by the U.S. Naval Institute, Clancy originally envisioned Ryan as born in the 1950s, the son of a Baltimore police officer and hospital nurse. The character was designed to attend Clancy's own alma mater, Loyola High School, and earn an economics degree from Boston College before joining the United States Marine Corps. The detailed background included Ryan's career path from a helicopter crash injury during military service, through work at Merrill Lynch, to eventual recruitment by the CIA while working as an associate editor with the U.S. Naval Institute.
The character of Jack Ryan was modeled partly on former Director of Central Intelligence Robert Gates, with Clancy telling Gates that "You know, for the first several novels, I pretty much modeled Ryan's career on yours". This grounding in real-world intelligence careers helped establish the series' commitment to authenticity in depicting government operations and military technology. As for Clark, Clancy described him as "Ryan's dark side" and "more inclined to take physical action than Jack is."
Novels Tom Clancy novels Clancy's debut novel, The Hunt for Red October, was first published by Naval Institute Press in 1984. It marks the first appearance of Jack Ryan, an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency. He rises up the ranks in the CIA, eventually becoming Deputy Director in The Sum of All Fears. After a brief retirement from government service, Ryan is appointed National Security Advisor in Debt of Honor to deal with a crisis involving Japan. After being nominated as Vice President, he becomes President of the United States following a terrorist attack at the United States Capitol.
John Clark first appeared in The Cardinal of the Kremlin, with his origin story established in Without Remorse. A former Navy SEAL as John Terrence Kelly, he fakes his death after waging a one-man war on drug dealers in Baltimore in order to avoid capture by Ryan's father Emmet, a police lieutenant. Clark becomes a CIA officer and first meets Ryan in Clear and Present Danger as they work to rescue a U.S. Army black ops unit abandoned by the government after carrying out a secret war against the Medellin Cartel in Colombia. Clark meets Domingo "Ding" Chavez during the rescue, and they later work together in the CIA. Clark later forms the elite international counter-terrorism organization known as Rainbow, as depicted in Rainbow Six.
Ryan later finishes his term as President and creates The Campus, a covert counter-terrorism and intelligence organization fronting as Hendley Associates, a financial trading firm, in The Teeth of the Tiger. His son, Jack Junior, and his nephews, Dominic and Brian Caruso, are its first recruits. A prequel novel, Red Rabbit, focuses on Ryan as a CIA liaison with British foreign intelligence as he uncovers a plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II. All the books were published in the United States through G. P. Putnam's Sons.
The Hunt for Red October (1984) Patriot Games (1987) The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988) Clear and Present Danger (1989) The Sum of All Fears (1991) Without Remorse (1993) Debt of Honor (1994) Executive Orders (1996) Rainbow Six (1998) The Bear and the Dragon (2000) Red Rabbit (2002) The Teeth of the Tiger (2003)
Collaborations After a seven-year break from writing fiction, Clancy returned in 2010 with Dead or Alive, co-written with Grant Blackwood. It brought Ryan, Clark, Chavez, and the Campus together in what was called the All-Star Team.
The spin-off novel Against All Enemies, co-written with Peter Telep, features ex-Navy SEAL and CIA paramilitary officer Max Moore. A sequel, Search and Destroy, remains unpublished.
Clancy co-wrote his final three novels with Mark Greaney, with Command Authority posthumously released after his death in 2013. In the books, Ryan becomes President for a second time, and Clark and Chavez start working for The Campus alongside Jack Junior.
Dead or Alive (with Grant Blackwood) (2010) Against All Enemies (with Peter Telep) (2011) Locked On (with Mark Greaney) (2011) Threat Vector (with Mark Greaney) (2012) Command Authority (with Mark Greaney) (2013)
Post-Clancy novels After Clancy's death, a Campus spin-off novel featuring Dominic Caruso, Support and Defend, was written by Greaney and published in 2014. Greaney went on to write three more novels featuring Ryan and the Campus. In 2017, Marc Cameron picked up the series and wrote seven novels, including the Cold War prequel Red Winter. In 2024, Andrews and Wilson continued the Jack Ryan series starting with Act of Defiance, a direct sequel to The Hunt for Red October released on the 40th anniversary of its publication. They announced their exit in 2025 and were briefly replaced by Ward Larsen before M. P. Woodward is slated to take over in late 2026.
Support and Defend (2014, by Mark Greaney) Full Force and Effect (2014, by Mark Greaney) Commander in Chief (2015, by Mark Greaney) True Faith and Allegiance (2016, by Mark Greaney) Power and Empire (2017, by Marc Cameron) Oath of Office (2018, by Marc Cameron) Code of Honor (2019, by Marc Cameron) Shadow of the Dragon (2020, by Marc Cameron) Chain of Command (2021, by Marc Cameron) Red Winter (2022, by Marc Cameron) Command and Control (2023, by Marc Cameron) Act of Defiance (2024, by Andrews and Wilson) Defense Protocol (2024, by Andrews and Wilson) Executive Power (2025, by Andrews and Wilson) Rules of Engagement (2026, by Ward Larsen) The Coldest War (forthcoming 2026, by M. P. Woodward)
Jack Ryan Jr. The Jack Ryan Jr. spin-off series was started by Blackwood, who wrote two novels. It was continued by Mike Maden in 2017, who wrote four novels, and in 2021 by Don Bentley, who wrote four more. In 2023, M. P. Woodward was announced to continue the series, followed by Jack Stewart in 2025.
Under Fire (2015, by Grant Blackwood) Duty and Honor (2016, by Grant Blackwood) Point of Contact (2017, by Mike Maden) Line of Sight (2018, by Mike Maden) Enemy Contact (2019, by Mike Maden) Firing Point (2020, by Mike Maden) Target Acquired (2021, by Don Bentley) Zero Hour (2022, by Don Bentley) Flash Point (2023, by Don Bentley) Weapons Grade (2023, by Don Bentley) Shadow State (2024, by M. P. Woodward) Line of Demarcation (2025, by M. P. Woodward) Terminal Velocity (2025, by M. P. Woodward) Pressure Depth (2026, by Jack Stewart) Zero Point (forthcoming 2027, by Jack Stewart)
Chronological order of novels Early novels in the Ryanverse are set during and after the Cold War. From The Teeth of the Tiger onwards, the Ryanverse follows a fluid timeline referencing recent real-life events such as the September 11 attacks and the 2003 invasion of Iraq while depicting Jack Ryan as president of the United States from Threat Vector onwards as of 2026.
Chrono. order Pub. order Title Plot timeline Written by 1 6 Without Remorse (1993) 1969-1973 Tom Clancy 2 2 Patriot Games (1987) 1981-1982 Tom Clancy 3 11 Red Rabbit (2002) 1982 Tom Clancy 4 1 The Hunt for Red October (1984) 1984 Tom Clancy 5 35 Red Winter (2022) 1985 Marc Cameron 6 3 The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988) 1986 Tom Clancy 7 4 Clear and Present Danger (1989) 1988 Tom Clancy 8 5 The Sum of All Fears (1991) 1990-1991 Tom Clancy 9 7 Debt of Honor (1994) 1995-1996 Tom Clancy 10 8 Executive Orders (1996) 1996-1998 Tom Clancy 11 9 Rainbow Six (1998) 1999-2001 Tom Clancy 12 10 The Bear and the Dragon (2000) 2002 Tom Clancy 13 12 The Teeth of the Tiger (2003) 2006 Tom Clancy 14 13 Dead or Alive (2010) 2007 Tom Clancy & Grant Blackwood 15 14 Against All Enemies (2011) 2008 Tom Clancy & Peter Telep 16 15 Locked On (2011) 2008 Tom Clancy & Mark Greaney 17 16 Threat Vector (2012) 2009 Tom Clancy & Mark Greaney 18 17 Command Authority (2013) 2010 Tom Clancy & Mark Greaney 19 18 Support and Defend (2014) 2010 Mark Greaney 20 19 Full Force and Effect (2014) 2010 Mark Greaney 21 20 Under Fire (2015) 2010 Grant Blackwood 22 21 Commander in Chief (2015) 2010 Mark Greaney 23 22 Duty and Honor (2016) 2011 Grant Blackwood 24 23 True Faith and Allegiance (2016) 2011 Mark Greaney 25 24 Point of Contact (2017) 2012 Mike Maden 26 25 Power and Empire (2017) 2017 Marc Cameron 27 26 Line of Sight (2018) 2018 Mike Maden 28 27 Oath of Office (2018) 2018 Marc Cameron 29 28 Enemy Contact (2019) 2019 Mike Maden 30 29 Code of Honor (2019) 2019 Marc Cameron 31 30 Firing Point (2020) 2020 Mike Maden 32 31 Shadow of the Dragon (2020) 2020 Marc Cameron 33 32 Target Acquired (2021) 2021 Don Bentley 34 33 Chain of Command (2021) 2021 Marc Cameron 35 34 Zero Hour (2022) 2022 Don Bentley 36 36 Flash Point (2023) 2023 Don Bentley 37 37 Weapons Grade (2023) 2023 Don Bentley 38 38 Command and Control (2023) 2023 Marc Cameron 39 39 Act of Defiance (2024) 2024 Andrews and Wilson 40 40 Shadow State (2024) 2024 M. P. Woodward 41 41 Defense Protocol (2024) 2024 Andrews and Wilson 42 42 Line of Demarcation (2025) 2024 M. P. Woodward 43 43 Terminal Velocity (2025) 2024 M. P. Woodward 44 44 Executive Power (2025) 2024 Andrews and Wilson 45 45 Rules of Engagement (2026) 2024 Ward Larsen 46 46 Pressure Depth (2026) TBD Jack Stewart 47 47 The Coldest War (2026) TBD M. P. Woodward 48 48 Zero Point (2027) TBD Jack Stewart
Characters Cast Some of the key characters in the Ryanverse have been portrayed in the following films and television series: