Michael Bay to turn Jack Ryan into a TV show

Little over a year after the Jack Ryan franchise stumbled back onto the big screen with the underwhelming Shadow Recruit, Transformers director Michael Bay is looking to breathe new life into the character with a brand new adaptation for TV, reports Deadline.

Bay is apparently working alongside Lost producers Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland on the new project, with several networks already thought to be interested. Reportedly, the show will not be a direct adaptation of any one of Tom Clancy’s original novels, but will instead be "a new contemporary take on the character in his prime as a CIA analyst/operative using the novels as source material".

There’s no suggestion at this stage that Chris Pine will return to the role, but despite the disappointment of the latest film, the franchise clearly remains appealing to studios having spawned five movies from 1990 to 2014, which raked in nearly $1 billion worldwide. Whether Bay can cook up something suitably compelling to keep people tuning in every week is another matter. Fingers crossed!