John Krasinski: The women characters had so much more to do than play wives

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan by Amazon Prime Original, has created the right buzz amongst its viewers because of its sentient content! From the ‘not all heroes wear capes’ protagonist, Jack Ryan, to his badass boss, James Greer to strong, independent and empowered women, Jack Ryan has it all.

John Krasinski starrer Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan have created a modern hero for audiences of the 21st Century while maintaining his characteristics from the original franchise that made him a hero of the 90’s. Along with the new Jack Ryan, the show also has extremely strong women that play a significant role and make the series worth a watch.

Hanin Ali who is married to Suleiman who is the antagonist in the show. Hanin proves herself an instrumental ally of Jack Ryan and his team. Married off at a young age, she is a devoted mother of three children. She flees to Syria to protect them from Suleiman’s progressively inhuman activities. Cuse and Roland wrote a deeply textured role for Dina Shihabi, who plays Hanin. A Saudi Arabian actress of Palestinian origin, Shihabi starred in the 2014 romantic comedy Amira & Sam before landing what she considers the role of a lifetime.

Shihabi said:

“As an Arab woman, I rarely find a female film or TV characters in America — or anywhere, really — who are proactive and fearless like Hanin. She’s not a pushover. Playing Hanin, I get to show her innate strength, which develops even more as she goes on this journey to save her kids. Each choice Hanin makes is about the safety of her children, and I think that’s an incredible thing to connect with as a woman.”

Cathy Mueller is Jack Ryan’s love interest in the show. She is a workaholic doctor specializing in infectious diseases which influences what Jack does later, Cathy Mueller loves her profession and is most at home in her epidemiology lab. She investigates an outbreak of a virulent form of Ebola that may point to something more ominous and might indirectly lead her to the center of the plot without even knowing it.

While speaking about the well-defined and nuanced women characters in the series, John Krasinski said:

“The women characters had so much more to do than play wives, which I think is important and representative of where we are as a culture.”

Both behind and before the camera, women had a significant role to play. The director Patricia Riggen and armorer and weapons specialist Natalia Lee have lent vision and direction to the show. Patricia has managed to beautifully capture the vulnerability and human element to Suleiman’s character through her own style.