Ryanverse
The Ryanverse franchise focuses on the character Jack Ryan, a fictional CIA analyst created in 1984 by American author Tom Clancy, who featured him in fourteen novels. It also features CIA operative John 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, and Andrews and Wilson. In addition, a spin-off series featuring Ryan's son Jack Junior was written by Grant Blackwood, Mike Maden, Don Bentley, and M. P. Woodward. The latest novel is Executive Power by Andrews and Wilson, a Jack Ryan novel published in November 2025.
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 released a television series featuring John Krasinski as Ryan and a planned film series 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.
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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.
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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 will be briefly replaced by Ward Larsen before M. P. Woodward takes over in 2026.
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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.
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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 2025.| Chrono. order | Pub. order | Title | Plot timeline | Written by |
| 1 | 6 | Without Remorse | 1969-1973 | Tom Clancy |
| 2 | 2 | Patriot Games | 1981-1982 | Tom Clancy |
| 3 | 11 | Red Rabbit | 1982 | Tom Clancy |
| 4 | 1 | The Hunt for Red October | 1984 | Tom Clancy |
| 5 | 35 | Red Winter | 1985 | Marc Cameron |
| 6 | 3 | The Cardinal of the Kremlin | 1986 | Tom Clancy |
| 7 | 4 | Clear and Present Danger | 1988 | Tom Clancy |
| 8 | 5 | The Sum of All Fears | 1990-1991 | Tom Clancy |
| 9 | 7 | Debt of Honor | 1995-1996 | Tom Clancy |
| 10 | 8 | Executive Orders | 1996-1998 | Tom Clancy |
| 11 | 9 | Rainbow Six | 1999-2001 | Tom Clancy |
| 12 | 10 | The Bear and the Dragon | 2002 | Tom Clancy |
| 13 | 12 | The Teeth of the Tiger | 2006 | Tom Clancy |
| 14 | 13 | Dead or Alive | 2007 | Tom Clancy & Grant Blackwood |
| 15 | 14 | Against All Enemies | 2008 | Tom Clancy & Peter Telep |
| 16 | 15 | Locked On | 2008 | Tom Clancy & Mark Greaney |
| 17 | 16 | Threat Vector | 2009 | Tom Clancy & Mark Greaney |
| 18 | 17 | Command Authority | 2010 | Tom Clancy & Mark Greaney |
| 19 | 18 | Support and Defend | 2010 | Mark Greaney |
| 20 | 19 | Full Force and Effect | 2010 | Mark Greaney |
| 21 | 20 | Under Fire | 2010 | Grant Blackwood |
| 22 | 21 | Commander in Chief | 2010 | Mark Greaney |
| 23 | 22 | Duty and Honor | 2011 | Grant Blackwood |
| 24 | 23 | True Faith and Allegiance | 2011 | Mark Greaney |
| 25 | 24 | Point of Contact | 2012 | Mike Maden |
| 26 | 25 | Power and Empire | 2017 | Marc Cameron |
| 27 | 26 | Line of Sight | 2018 | Mike Maden |
| 28 | 27 | Oath of Office | 2018 | Marc Cameron |
| 29 | 28 | Enemy Contact | 2019 | Mike Maden |
| 30 | 29 | Code of Honor | 2019 | Marc Cameron |
| 31 | 30 | Firing Point | 2020 | Mike Maden |
| 32 | 31 | Shadow of the Dragon | 2020 | Marc Cameron |
| 33 | 32 | Target Acquired | 2021 | Don Bentley |
| 34 | 33 | Chain of Command | 2021 | Marc Cameron |
| 35 | 34 | Zero Hour | 2022 | Don Bentley |
| 36 | 36 | Flash Point | 2023 | Don Bentley |
| 37 | 37 | Weapons Grade | 2023 | Don Bentley |
| 38 | 38 | Command and Control | 2023 | Marc Cameron |
| 39 | 39 | Act of Defiance | 2024 | Andrews and Wilson |
| 40 | 40 | Shadow State | 2024 | M. P. Woodward |
| 41 | 41 | Defense Protocol | 2024 | Andrews and Wilson |
| 42 | 42 | Line of Demarcation | 2025 | M. P. Woodward |
| 43 | 43 | Terminal Velocity | 2025 | M. P. Woodward |
| 44 | 44 | Executive Power | 2025 | Andrews and Wilson |
| 45 | 45 | Rules of Engagement | 2026 | Ward Larsen |
| 46 | 46 | Pressure Depth | 2026 | Jack Stewart |
| 47 | 47 | The Coldest War | 2026 | M. P. Woodward |