A clip from Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan has surged across social media this week, with viewers describing a scene from the show’s second season as “prophetic” in light of current events involving Venezuela.
The moment, which first aired in 2019, features John Krasinski as CIA analyst Jack Ryan delivering a blunt assessment of Venezuela’s geopolitical importance.
Speaking to colleagues, Ryan challenges the assumption that global threats are limited to countries like Russia or China.
Instead, he points to Venezuela’s vast reserves of oil, gold, and minerals, describing it as “arguably the single greatest resource of oil and minerals on the planet.”
He then contrasts that wealth with the country’s deep humanitarian crisis, framing Venezuela as a modern “failed state” with enormous strategic significance due to its proximity to the United States.
The clip has re-emerged as political tensions around Venezuela dominate headlines. On 3 January, Donald Trump announced that the US had launched military strikes in the country and confirmed the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
In public remarks and posts on Truth Social, Trump claimed the US would now “run” Venezuela, citing accusations of drug-related crimes against Maduro and promising to restore oil production while “taking care of the people of Venezuela.”
Against that backdrop, many viewers have revisited the Jack Ryan scene, arguing that the show appeared to anticipate a future US intervention.
The timing has fuelled debate online about the line between fiction and real-world geopolitics, particularly as the speech focuses on resource wealth, instability, and foreign influence, themes that continue to shape discussions about Venezuela today.
The series itself is based on the novels of Tom Clancy and is known for grounding its plots in plausible geopolitical scenarios rather than outright prediction.
Speaking to industry press, co-creator Carlton Cuse said the intention was never prophecy, but credibility.
The writers, he explained, aimed to reflect long-standing tensions within Venezuela, where democratic ideals, economic realities, and global interests have collided for decades.
While the viral clip has prompted renewed interest in the show, it has also become a flashpoint in wider conversations about US foreign policy, media narratives, and how popular culture can echo real events.
Whether coincidence or careful research, the scene’s renewed relevance has cemented it as one of Jack Ryan’s most talked-about moments, years after it first aired.