*WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Jack Ryan season 3*
Each season of Prime Video’s Jack Ryan has upped the stakes to new and increasingly dangerous levels, growing from an Islamic terrorist plot in season 1 and to preventing a corrupt election in Venezuela during season 2.
The third installment builds on this yet again and introduces one of the biggest threats to exist in the spy thriller genre, Russia.
More specifically, Jack Ryan season 3 centers on a group of Russians who are looking to completely change the world order through the mysterious Sokol Project.
Episode 1 introduces the Sokol Project
From the opening scenes of episode 1, the mysterious Sokol Project dominates much of the debate in Jack Ryan season 3.
In an opening flashback to 1969, a truckload of Russian soldiers are ordered to kill a group of scientists working on the project while back in the present day, Jack Ryan is investigating Sokol himself.
We catch up with Ryan in Rome as he meets with a Russian minister named Zoya Ivanova who has some crucial details about the plot.
She explains that the Sokol Project has been reactivated and that those involved have now developed a functioning weapon to make the plan work, which immediately starts ringing alarm bells for Jack and his CIA colleague, James Greer.
What is the Sokol Project in Jack Ryan season 3?
The Sokol Project is a plan put in place by several hardline Soviets which, if successful, would see them restore Russia to its former Cold War glory as the USSR.
Jack Ryan reveals that ‘Sokol’ is the Russian word for ‘falcon’ – hence the title of episode 1 – and that it also refers to both the names of the project and that of a weapon that is set to be used during the scheme.
As the episodes progress, Jack learns that the Sokol Project is based on the Soviet military exercise called ‘Seven Days to the River Rhine,’ which was a real-life plan developed during the Cold War which depicted the plan of attack for the countries in the Warsaw Pact (the USSR and its allies) should war break out against NATO.
The plan at the heart of the Sokol Project would see its participants use a small and untraceable nuclear weapon to sow chaos throughout the countries of the Eastern Bloc so that Russia could reclaim territory that once belonged to the Soviet Union.
Who are the key players?
Throughout season 3 of Jack Ryan, we meet a number of characters who are involved in Project Sokol in one form or another.
One of the first is Luka Goncharov, who was the second-in-command soldier during the opening flashback. He ordered the killing of the Sokol scientists and has remained wary of its resurgence ever since. In the present, and played by James Cosmo, Luka becomes Jack’s ally in helping to foil Project Sokol.
Petr Lebedev is another one of the soldiers in the flashback. He refused to carry out the order as he believed in Project Sokol. He was shot by Luka for disobeying the order but survived and has since become a mysterious powerbroker who still dreams of enacting Sokol.
Alena Kovac is the daughter of Petr Lebedev, whom he helped to install as the president of the Czech Republic, hopefully securing an ally for when Project Sokol takes place.
Rolan Antonov was a third soldier to appear in the flashback who later went on to become a captain in the Russian navy and is slated to play a key role in the Sokol Project in goading the Americans into starting a conflict.
And finally, the last major player in Project Sokol is Alexei Petrov, the Russian Defense Minister whom Petr enlists in order to help stage a coup within the Russian government in order to install those behind Project Sokol as the country’s new leaders.
Season 3 of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video after releasing on Wednesday, December 21, 2022.
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