Jack Ryan season 3: John Krasinski ‘thrown out of a helicopter’ in wild stunt

Jack Ryan star John Krasinski has lifted the lid on the moment he thought he might die while filming the highly-anticipated season 3.

It had been a normal day on the set of action thriller Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan – when its A-list star, John Krasinski, was abruptly thrown from a helicopter.

Ahead of the series’ big return after a three-year hiatus, Krasinski, 43, told news.com.au that the helicopter stunt, which he initially “wasn’t supposed to do”, was one of “many” times he thought he’d die during filming.

“We had a stunt team for that one – that one, I’d let the stunt guys do,” the actor, who stars in the titular role, explained.

“Everyone on the helicopter that day was navy SEALS, and one of our buddies, Kevin Kent, said, ‘it would be a lot cooler if you did the stunt’.

“I said, ‘What would that look like?’ And he said, ‘It’d look like me unbuckling you and throwing you out of this helicopter’.”

The actor added: “And he did, right then and there.”

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The actor says he was literally thrown from a helicopter. Picture: Prime Video

It was a stunt he was originally not “supposed to do”. Picture: Prime Video

Season three, which lands on Prime Video on December 21, sees Jack Ryan (Krasinski) working as a CIA case officer in Rome, where he gets a tip-off of a secret plan to resurrect the Soviet Empire. It sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Jack being wrongly implicated in a conspiracy and accused of treason, forcing him to go on the run from his own government.

John Krasinski and Michael Kelly in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. Picture: Prime Video

It’s as action-packed as ever – a detail that packs even more punch due to the fact the show’s leading stars were doing most of their own stunts.

“Whenever we can, whenever it feels safe (we do them),” Krasinski told us.

“I think you do get that little kid instinct of, ‘I can do that, we can try that!’ It’s one of those things that can be really exciting … but also get you into trouble.”

The third season takes place right across Europe. Picture: Prime Video

Krasinski also described how the cast and crew had felt a “huge responsibility” in returning to the production mid-pandemic, being among the first to do so following the wave of lockdowns.

“This season in particular, we had the fans in mind because we knew that the time between season two and three would be so huge … We wanted to make a season that was worth waiting for,” he said, adding that they’d shot both seasons three and four – which will be the last – back-to-back.

“We knew what we wanted to do with the characters and we always try to pay homage to the Clancy books … We wanted to walk off into the sunset, as it were – not necessarily as the final, final chapter but at the end of the day, putting these people together similarly to how they were in the book.”

Alongside Krasinski in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is Wendell Pierce as CIA Officer James Greer and Michael Kelly as former CIA Officer Mike November, with Nina Hoss and Betty Gabriel joining the cast this season.

The entire third season will be available to stream on Prime Video from December 21.

Originally published as Jack Ryan season 3: John Krasinski ‘thrown out of a helicopter’ in wild stunt