TheRyanverse franchise focuses on the characterJack Ryan, a fictionalCIA analyst created in 1984 by American authorTom Clancy, who featured him in fourteen novels. It also features CIA operativeJohn Clark and The Campus, a covert counter-terrorism and intelligence organization. Since Clancy's death in 2013, four other authors have written authorized novels featuring Ryan and the Campus:Mark Greaney,Marc Cameron, andAndrews and Wilson. In addition, a spin-off series featuring Ryan's son Jack Junior was written byGrant Blackwood,Mike Maden,Don Bentley, andM. P. Woodward. The latest novel isExecutive Power by Andrews and Wilson, a Jack Ryan novel published in November 2025.
Clancy developed the Jack Ryan character while working as an insurance agent inMaryland, drawing extensively from his early interests and personal background.[5] Clancy, who grew up in an Irish-American family inBaltimore and was unable to serve in the military due to nearsightedness, developed a passion formilitary history andstrategy 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.[6] He conducted extensive research using military publications such asArmed Forces Weekly andJane'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 theSoviet frigateStorozhevoy toSweden.[7][8]
According to character sketches discovered by theU.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 fromBoston College before joining theUnited States Marine Corps. The detailed background included Ryan's career path from a helicopter crash injury during military service, through work atMerrill Lynch, to eventual recruitment by theCIA while working as an associate editor with the U.S. Naval Institute.[9]
The character of Jack Ryan was modeled partly on formerDirector of Central IntelligenceRobert Gates, with Clancy telling Gates that "You know, for the first several novels, I pretty much modeled Ryan's career on yours".[10] 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."[11]
John Clark first appeared inThe Cardinal of the Kremlin, with his origin story established inWithout Remorse. A formerNavy SEAL as John Terrence Kelly, he fakes his death after waging a one-man war on drug dealers inBaltimore in order to avoid capture by Ryan's father Emmet, a police lieutenant. Clark becomes a CIA officer and first meets Ryan inClear and Present Danger as they work to rescue aU.S. Army black ops unit abandoned by the government after carrying out a secret war against theMedellin Cartel inColombia. 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 inRainbow 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, inThe 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 withBritish foreign intelligence as he uncovers a plot to assassinatePope John Paul II. All the books were published in the United States throughG. P. Putnam's Sons.
After a seven-year break from writing fiction, Clancy returned in 2010 withDead or Alive, co-written withGrant Blackwood.[13] It brought Ryan, Clark, Chavez, and the Campus together in what was called the All-Star Team.[14]
Clancy co-wrote his final three novels withMark Greaney, withCommand Authority posthumously released after his death in 2013.[17] In the books, Ryan becomes President for a second time, and Clark and Chavez start working for The Campus alongside Jack Junior.
After Clancy's death, a Campus spin-off novel featuring Dominic Caruso,Support and Defend, was written by Greaney and published in 2014.[18] Greaney went on to write three more novels featuring Ryan and the Campus. In 2017,Marc Cameron picked up the series[19] and wrote seven novels, including theCold War prequelRed Winter. In 2024,Andrews and Wilson continued the Jack Ryan series starting withAct of Defiance, a direct sequel toThe Hunt for Red October released on the 40th anniversary of its publication.[20] They announced their exit in 2025 and will be briefly replaced byWard Larsen beforeM. P. Woodward takes over in 2026.[21]
The Jack Ryan Jr. spin-off series was started by Blackwood, who wrote two novels. It was continued byMike Maden in 2017,[22] who wrote four novels, and in 2021 byDon Bentley, who wrote four more.[23] In 2023,M. P. Woodward was announced to continue the series,[24] followed byJack Stewart in 2025.[25]
Early novels in the Ryanverse are set during and after theCold War. FromThe Teeth of the Tiger onwards, the Ryanverse follows a fluid timeline referencing recent real-life events such as theSeptember 11 attacks and the2003 invasion of Iraq while depicting Jack Ryan aspresident of the United States fromThreat Vector onwards as of 2025.
A total of six presidents are depicted in the Ryanverse, although only five are named:
The unnamed man referred to as "the President" or later by his Secret Service codename "Wrangler", is first introduced inThe Hunt for Red October; he remains in office throughThe Cardinal of the Kremlin andClear and Present Danger. At the end of the last novel, he runs for reelection and is defeated.
J. Robert Fowler, former governor of Ohio, defeats the incumbent president at the end ofClear and Present Danger and is in office duringThe Sum of All Fears. After his failure to handle the Denver crisis nearly results in nuclear war, he resigns from office at the end of the novel.
Roger Durling, Fowler's vice president, former governor of California and a Vietnam veteran with service in the82nd Airborne Division. Durling replaces Fowler when he resigns and is the President inDebt of Honor. He nearly completes Fowler's term as president and is planning a reelection campaign when he is killed along with most of the government when a Japanese jetliner crashes into the Capitol.
John Patrick Ryan is confirmed as Durling's new vice president at the end ofDebt of Honor, and is sworn in as president when Durling is murdered on the same day. His claim to the presidency is contested by Durling's former vice president Ed Kealty inExecutive Orders, but the courts eventually rule in Ryan's favor. He is mentioned duringRainbow Six although he never appears, and is depicted as president inThe Bear and the Dragon. Ryan chooses not to run for re-election between the events ofThe Bear and The Dragon andThe Teeth of The Tiger.
Robert Jefferson "Robby"Jackson succeeds Ryan as President of the United States after Ryan retires (as described inThe Teeth of the Tiger), with Ryan believing he could leave the country in Robby's capable hands. After serving out the remainder of Ryan's term, Robby campaigned for his own re-election. While travelling in Mississippi, however, Jackson was assassinated by Duane Farmer, a 67-year-old member of theKu Klux Klan.
Edward Jonathan Kealty: Durling's former vice president, replaced by Jack Ryan after a sex scandal. When incumbent president Robby Jackson is assassinated while campaigning, Kealty is elected president in his own right, a position he holds fromThe Teeth of the Tiger toLocked On.
John Patrick Ryan: begins his campaign for reelection during the events ofDead or Alive, defeats Kealty by a narrow margin inLocked On and assumes office prior to the events ofThreat Vector. He is depicted as president in all subsequent Ryanverse novels.
Beginning withThe Teeth of the Tiger, Ryanverse novels feature The Campus, a covert counter-terrorism and intelligence organization. Hendley Associates, aprivate trading and arbitrage company, serves as a legitimate cover for the organization, or its "white-side". They fund The Campus's intelligence operations by stock market trades influenced by captured intelligence data, thus removing federal oversight and allowing free rein in the Campus's operations. The Campus was later integrated by President Ryan and Director of National Intelligence Mary Pat Foley into the U.S. intelligence community inFlash Point to deal with a crisis at theSouth China Sea.
Gerald Paul "Gerry"Hendley Jr.: founder & CEO. A former Democratic senator fromSouth Carolina, Hendley was tasked by then-President Ryan to lead The Campus and its cover Hendley Associates.
John Clark: director of operations. He was employed by The Campus after retiring from the CIA and Rainbow inDead or Alive, and after a brief retirement replaces Sam Granger as operations head inCommand Authority.
Domingo "Ding"Chavez: senior operations officer. Along with Clark, he was recruited by The Campus after retiring from the CIA and Rainbow. Ding helps train new agents for the Campus as well and participates in field operations.
Gavin Biery: director of information technology
Jack Ryan Jr.: intelligence analyst and operations officer. Originally an analyst, he becomes more involved in field operations fromDead or Alive onwards, initially to the concern of his father. He becomes a team leader inFlash Point. He is also depicted as a venture capitalist for Hendley Associates fromLine of Demarcation onwards.
Dominic "Dom" Caruso: operations officer and former FBI special agent
Adara Sherman: operations officer fromTrue Faith and Allegiance onwards and former director of transportation. In a relationship with Dom Caruso.
Bartosz "Barry"Jankowski (call sign "Midas"): operations officer and formerDelta Force operator. Recruited by Clark inTrue Faith and Allegiance.
Lisanne Robertson: operations officer and former director of transportation. Introduced inPower and Empire. Loses her left arm inShadow of the Dragon. Engaged to Jack Junior at the end ofFlash Point, but breaks off the engagement at the end ofTerminal Velocity.
Master Sergeant Cary Marks: a member ofOperational Detachment Alpha 555 who worked with the Campus on several missions. Introduced inTarget Acquired and appears in subsequent Jack Junior novels.
Sergeant First Class Jad Mustafa: a member of Operational Detachment Alpha 555 who worked with the Campus on several missions. Introduced inTarget Acquired and appears in subsequent Jack Junior novels.
Steven "Chilly" Edwards: operations officer. Introduced inChain of Command as a police officer inAbilene, Texas who rescues First Lady Cathy Ryan from Camarilla operatives and is recruited by Clark and Chavez at the end of the novel.
Amanda "Mandy" Cobb: operations officer and graduate of theFBI Academy. First appeared inCommand and Control.
Master Chief Kendrick Moore: operations officer. A former Navy SEAL team leader, Moore was forced out after anIslamic State defector toldThe New York Times that his team had killed a suspected terrorist while under interrogation. Recruited by Clark inShadow State and appears in subsequent Jack Junior novels.
Tom Buck: an active-dutyMarine Raider who worked with the Campus on an operation inPakistan inTerminal Velocity
Chester "Country"Hicks: co-pilot of Hendley Associates's Gulfstream G550
Sam Driscoll: operations officer and formerArmy Ranger. He was recruited by Clark after the Kealty administration dropped murder charges against him for killing sleeping Middle Eastern terrorists in a cave in Pakistan during the hunt for the Emir inDead or Alive. Dies in an operation in Mexico City inFull Force and Effect.
Brian Caruso: operations officer and former Marine Major, and Dom's brother. Dies in an operation in Libya inDead or Alive.
Jerry Rounds: chief of strategic planning / director of intelligence
Rick Bell: chief of analysis
Sam Granger: director of operations. Killed by the Chinese inThreat Vector.
Tony Wills: intelligence analyst who originally trained Jack Ryan Jr. on the intelligence side of The Campus
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014): directed byKenneth Branagh, and starringChris Pine,Kevin Costner, Kenneth Branagh,Keira Knightley, and Len Kudrjawizki. The film was a commercial success and received average reviews, with praise for Branagh's direction, and the performances of the cast, citing both Pine and Branagh for special mention for their performances.[32][33]
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