10 Actors Who Got Kicked Out Of Their Own Movie Franchises

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novel series first hit the big screen with 1990's adaptation of the bestseller The Hunt for Red October, starring Alec Baldwin as the iconic CIA analyst, which received strong reviews (particularly for Baldwin's performance) and was a major box office hit.

The sequel, Patriot Games, was fast-tracked into production and released barely two years later, though Baldwin was ultimately replaced by Harrison Ford, the reasons for which remain murky at best.

Baldwin claims that Paramount executive David Kirkpatrick forced him to choose between appearing in the sequel and performing A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway, while Kirkpatrick claims that Baldwin's insistence upon script approval led to him being dropped from the follow-up.

Director John McTiernan, who helmed the first film and actually wanted Ford for the part originally, has since claimed, "there was a great deal of scheming that went on to push Alec out of that part."

Audiences and critics largely responded favourably to the change, though, and in the years since Jack Ryan has also been played by Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, and most recently John Krasinski.