Fans of the series have pointed out remarkable parallels between a season 2 storyline and the Trump administration’s current adventurism in Venezuela.

Carlton Cuse weighs in on ‘prophecy’ of *Jack Ryan *seeming to predict U.S. intervention in Venezuela

Fans of the series have pointed out remarkable parallels between a season 2 storyline and the Trump administration's current adventurism in Venezuela.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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January 5, 2026 5:16 p.m. ET

Carlton Cuse; John Krasinski on 'Jack Ryan'. Credit:

Brian Ach/Getty; Jennifer Clasen/Amazon

- *Jack Ryan *fans have noted that season 2's Venezuela plot, and one scene featuring John Krasinski laying it out, bear remarkable similarities to the current U.S. intervention into the country.

- "The fact is that Venezuela is arguably the single greatest resource of oil and minerals on the planet," Krasinski's CIA operative claims. "So why is this country in the midst of one of the greatest humanitarian crises in modern history?"

- Carlton Cuse, the series' co-creator, explained that the goal of that season wasn’t prophecy — it was plausibility," and that "the season came from our desire to tell a fictional story about the forces at play, not from imagining an outcome."**

Forget life imitating art. What about art predicting U.S. foreign policy?

Fans of the Prime Video series *Jack Ryan *have set the internet ablaze with speculation over how, way back in 2019, the political thriller co-created by Graham Roland and Carlton Cuse could have so accurately predicted the Trump administration's current intervention into Venezuela.

In a season 2 clip that has racked up over 1 million views since being shared on X on Jan. 4, John Krasinski's titular CIA operative lectures a hall full of students on "the most major threat on the world stage." Not Russia, China, or North Korea, as some guess, but Venezuela.

"The fact is that Venezuela is arguably the single greatest resource of oil and minerals on the planet," Ryan claims. "So why is this country in the midst of one of the greatest humanitarian crises in modern history?"

It's a question Cuse first posed over seven years ago in the *Jack Ryan *writers' room. Now he's explaining how he captured the way the U.S. military establishment sees the world strategically with such clarity.

Frazer Harrison/Getty

"What always surprises you as a storyteller is how often real-world events catch up to fiction," he told Deadline Hollywood on Monday. "The goal of that season wasn’t prophecy — it was plausibility. When you ground a story in real geopolitical dynamics, reality has a way of making it rhyme."

The U.S. military apparatus, currently led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been rattling its sabers at the oil-rich South American country for years, at least since the controversial re-election of Nicolás Maduro in 2018, but as far back as the Bush administration's imposition of harsh sanctions against the country in 2006. On Saturday, the U.S. carried out air strikes on the capital city of Caracas and kidnapped Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, citing narco-terrorism charges.

In the season 2 clip, Ryan introduces the class to the fictional "President Nicolas Reyes," who "[rose] to power on a wave of nationalist pride," and who "in a mere six years, has crippled the national economy by half." Ryan even describes an opposition candidate who bears remarkable similarities to Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado, a leading voice in the contestation of Maduro's legitimacy, and ultimately makes the case for heightened alert where the potential "failed state" is concerned.

Still, Cuse insisted that "the season came from our desire to tell a fictional story about the forces at play, not from imagining an outcome."

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Cuse continued, "Graham Roland and I weren’t making a statement — we were telling a fictional character-driven thriller rooted in Venezuela’s long-standing strategic relevance. Our job was to make the situation feel credible. We approached Venezuela as a country where democratic ideals, economic reality, and geopolitical interests have been in tension for a long time — and where choices are never simple."

Finally, Cuse noted that "any time the United States uses force abroad, it's a moment that deserves reflection... the consequences are born most significantly by people who have very little control over events. I can only hope things move toward stability and peace for the people living there."

John Krasinski on 'Jack Ryan'.

Jan thijs/Amazon Studios

The series' second season ultimately took up Venezuela as its primary subject, playing out a labyrinthine spy plot involving nuclear weapons hidden in the jungle and a crisis of confidence sparked from allegations of election tampering. *Jack Ryan *moved on from the country in season 3, and wrapped up after season 4.

Maduro and his wife entered not guilty pleas in federal court on Monday. His next hearing is scheduled for March 17.

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