Jack Ryan Season 3 Ending Explained: What is the Sokol Project?

Petr enlisted the help of Defense Minister Alexei Petrov (Alexej Manvelov) to stage a coup within the Russian government and enact the Sokol plan. Plan A was to influence Alena to allow NATO missiles in the Czech Republic, but she proved to be frustratingly independent, so they went along and tried some other strategies to jumpstart the Seven Days to the Rhine.

How Does Jack Save the Day?

Jack Ryan saves the day a whole hell of a lot in season 3. Like more than usual even. Despite not having access to usual CIA resources for much of the season, Jack: figures out the Sokol plan, gains turncoat Luka as an ally, kills a bunch of bad dudes, foils a nuclear accident, then foils yet another nuclear provocation. That last bit is arguably the most important one and it takes up much of Jack’s time in the final episode.

As previously mentioned, Alexei and Petr’s plans evolve quite a bit throughout the season. After plan A of getting NATO missiles into Czechia fails, they try to stage a nuclear accident within its borders. Once that fails, they move on to something quite beautiful in its simplicity: overthrow the whole dang Russian government and use a coup-friendly Naval officer (Antonov) to goad the Americans into a nuclear strike. Easy-peasy.

Thankfully, Jack and Luka are able to put a stop to this through the sheer power of persuasion alone. There is very little gunfire exchanged in episode 8 “Star of the Wall,” instead it’s just two groups of people on warships pointing weapons at each other and de-escalate. The real hero proves to be Luka who is able to get the Russian warship to depose their captain Antonov and stand down. Once Luka makes the call over to the USS Roosevelt, Jack is able to get his American counterpart to do the same. It’s a happy ending for the world but an unhappy one for Petr (who was killed by his daughter earlier), Alexei (who was killed by Kremlin agents), and Antonov (who was imprisoned by his peers).

What Happens to Luka?

Unfortunately, Luka seemingly receives an unhappy ending as well. Though Luka did well to redeem the many sins of his past, let’s not forget that he did kill an entire roomful of scientists who were just doing what their country asked of them. Luka leaves a nice letter for Jack that essentially says the world can stay safe as long as there are men like him who choose to value life over the institutions they represent. But then Luka gets a knock on the door from a very dour looking man who has probably come to kill him for his crimes against Russia. “Do not worry, I will not make this difficult,” Luka says to his likely murderer.

What Will Jack Ryan Season 4 Cover?

One thing’s for sure is that Jack Ryan will return in a fourth and final season, with Prime Video confirming that in May 2022. Knowing that Jack Ryan season 4 will be the final go-around for the Prime Video version of the character opens things up quite a bit.