Jack Ryan season 3 sees Jack attempting to stop a Russian project involving a nuclear weapon that has been reactivated. The season is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Jack Ryan enters a party to meet Zoya Ivanova, the minister-counselor with the Russian Embassy. She explains the Sokol Project to him, which has been reactivated by some Russians.
Initially, the project began to develop a small-yield battlefield nuclear weapon that is invisible to all radars. The project was shut down before a weapon could’ve been created out of it.
This time around, the developers have managed to create that weapon. She also offers him a SIM card. It will later pinpoint the location of the weapon.
Ryan convinces his new boss, Elizabeth Wright, that the threat around the Sokol project is real. When the SIM finally offers them a location, Ryan, with a team, infiltrates the ship suggested.
The team doesn’t find any nuclear weapons, but they come across a man named Yuri, who claims that he was part of the Sokol Project and did help build the weapon.
Someone told him that the Americans would pick him up. On their way out, Ryan’s team gets attacked, but they manage to escape. Wright sends them to Greece.
Once they reach the shore, Yuri informs Jack about the Russian war plan. Soon, a group of armed men ambush them and kill half of Ryan’s team. Ryan and Yuri enter the city and get chased by the cops.
Yuri dies, and Jack, in an attempt to escape, kills a cop. When he calls Wright and James Greer, he learns about the demise of Dmitry Popov, the Russian Defense Minister.
Dmitry Popov got shot during a meeting with the President of the Czech Republic, Alena Kovac, at a game of football.
The moment Jack heard this news, he realized that this is the Russian war plan called the Seven Days. The assassination of Popov is the beginning of that plan, which will end with a nuclear bomb created by the Sokol Project.
On top of that, Wright wants Jack to be the fall guy for this failed attempt to retrieve the bomb. Jack goes rogue and decides to investigate the Sokol Project on his own.
Wright and Greer arrive in Greece to look for Jack. When Wright figures out that Greer is aiding Jack, she asks him to back out of the case.
Greer then leaves to investigate the assassination of Popov. A look at the CCTV footage results in him finding out that Alena’s security guard, Radek, was missing during the assassination.
Turns out, Radek is working with Alexei Petrov, the new defense minister replacing Popov. Alexei dismisses all the deals the previous minister made with Alena.
Jack, on the other hand, with the help of Mike November, pursues his source and crosses paths with Luca Gocharov, the man responsible for shutting down the original Sokol Project by killing the scientists working on it.
He tells them about his intentions to stop this project led by Alexei Petrov. He gives Jack the name of the person who is delivering uranium to Petrov. The man delivering it is Levan Zubkov, one of November’s clients.
Ryan and November force Zubkov to contact them. They successfully extract the location of the uranium warhead. Unfortunately, Luca makes his way to the same location and stops Ryan.
He suggests that Sokol is just a tool, and they need to find the hand wielding it first. If they want to know who is behind this, they need to follow this device.
Greer continues to look into Radek, and during a search at Radek’s house, he comes across a photo of Radek with Petr, Alena’s father, a former Red Army soldier.
A glimpse into the past reveals that Petr Kovac, formally going by the name of Petr Lebedev, confronted his senior officials for shutting down the Sokol Project.
Petr got shot and kicked out for standing up. Since then, Lebedev has been presumed dead or missing.
Petr and Radek turn against each other, leading the latter to kidnap Alena. Petr eventually rescues her and kills Radek. He confesses that he used Alena to gain access to everything he wants.
Petr is certainly part of the Sokol Project and had also orchestrated the assassination of Popov.
Jack and his team are alerted about NATO moving the uranium warhead that is headed to the small town of Nymburk. Jack comes to the conclusion that the only motive behind the Sokol Project is to ignite a war between the United States and Russia.
The blast in Nymburk would leave Russia suspecting the United States. Jack manages to stop the bomb from reaching the town by having it detonate inside a tunnel. Meanwhile, Luca pays Petr a visit and takes care of him.
Still, NATO did move a nuclear warhead, which means Russia has a reason to start a full-scale war. Luca assures Jack that he has his back and that they will stop Alexei’s sinister plans.
Jack Ryan season 3 ending explained in detail:
What are Alexei’s plans?
With a little help from General Ramos, Wright gets Miller kicked out of his position at the CIA. She leads the operation from now on. Luca confronts Alexei and gets him to say that he killed Popov. He makes sure to record his words through a hidden mic on his cigarette.
From one of his sources, Greer learns about the name Rolan Antonov, a naval captain who was present when the Sokol Project was originally shut down. He could be involved in this.
At Antonov’s residence, they come across documents related to a Russian warship called ‘Fearless’ which is headed towards the Baltic Sea.
In order to launch a vessel like this, Antonov needs a direct order from the Kremlin. It turns out that he has those orders. The only takeaway is that it isn’t signed by the president; it is signed by Alexei.
Does Alexei get overthrown?
Alexei justifies his actions to the council of generals at the Kremlin and asks them to vote to impeach the President of Russia, Surikov, from the presidency.
Alena and Mike make it to President Surikov. They offer them the recording in which Alexei is admitting to the assassination of Popov. Greer, on the other hand, attempts to talk Alexei out of his decision.
President Surikov presents this recording in front of the generals. Alexei is assassinated shortly after.
Do Jack and Luca stop Fearless?
Jack boards the USS Roosevelt, which will be going up against the Fearless. While Jack attempts to convince the captain of the USS Roosevelt that they are fighting a ship that has not been ordered to attack by Russia’s president, Luca tries to convince Antonov.
Luca fails to change Antonov’s mind, and therefore, he instead talks things out with a young soldier guarding him. He encourages him to do the right thing.
The first missile gets launched, but before Antonov could launch the second, the young soldier brings his gun out. Luca asked the other young soldiers around him to reassess the situation.
They lower their weapons down. Luca contacts the USS Roosevelt and informs them about Antonov’s arrest. He assures them that they are not at war anymore.
Things go back to normal. President Bachler wastes no time in making Wright the new director of the CIA. Jack and Greer receive medals for their mission. November offers his services to Alena.
A week later, Luca gets picked up by someone. From Luca’s words, it can be assumed that he is probably taken to answer for the decisions he made during the original Sokol project.
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