Summary

• Cathy Mueller often found herself in danger due to her romantic connection to Jack Ryan, especially in adaptations where she was portrayed as headstrong and independent.
• In "Patriot Games," Jack's decision to save Lord Holmes resulted in his family being targeted by the ULA, leading to a car accident and subsequent attacks.
• In "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," Cathy's involvement in Jack's mission put her in a dangerous situation, as she was kidnapped and threatened by the antagonist Cherevin.

Jack Ryan’s shenanigans more often than not included him saving people instead of imperiling them, but that wasn’t always the case for Cathy Mueller, as being romantically linked to him often endangered her, just like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan season 4 showed. Different adaptions have introduced and developed Cathy, whether for mere seconds or following her for entire subplots that enriched the main Ryan-led action. However, some adaptations, more than others, had Cathy’s safety at risk as a consequence of Jack’s hero moves, especially in the renditions where she was presented as particularly headstrong and independent, and a valid counterpart to Jack’s equally stubborn self.

Appearing almost solely as Jack’s wife in Clancy’s novels, the portrayal of Amazon Jack Ryan TV show provided her more agency, focusing on her story and development just as much as they did on her connection with Jack. However, no matter how different the various iterations of Cathy Mueller/Ryan were, they often suffered because of Jack’s job in the CIA, ending up in harm’s way multiple times as a direct consequence of being linked to Jack or his reckless decisions.

5 Saving Lord Holmes From Sean Miller Puts A Target on Cathy's Back

Patriot Games (1992)

Harrison Ford’s Jack Ryan didn’t even collaborate with the CIA in 1992’s Patriot Games, but his hero tendencies still inadvertently put his wife Cathy and their firstborn Sally in danger. In London only for a guest lecture, he found himself choosing to save Lord Holmes and his family from the ULA’s terrorist attack led by Sean Miller. While Jack’s heroic actions which saved Lord Holmes were a result of his split-second decision and only saw him injured, killing Sean’s younger brother Patrick sealed his and Jack’s family’s fate, as Sean never would have let them go without trying to get his revenge.

Jack, Cathy, and Sally’s troubles didn’t end once they left the UK, as Sean followed them to the US to kill them after his ULA cell broke him out of prison. Having followed Cathy and Sally’s car, Sean disrupted the highway’s usual traffic by shooting at them, eventually leading them to crash against a barrier. This way, Jack’s instant decision to act to protect a stranger like Lord Holmes effectively ended up hurting his loved ones, as Sally lost her spleen, and both his daughter and wife risked their lives in the accident because he rushed into danger in London.

4 Jack Didn't Wait To Confirm Miller's Death Before Bringing Cathy & Sally Home

Patriot Games (1992)

Cathy and Sally’s car accident prompted better security at the Ryans’ residence and even an attack on a North African camp where ULA terrorists were training. While Jack witnessed the live feed of the attack that supposedly destroyed Miller’s ULA cell, he didn’t really know if Miller was dead, he only had Greer’s assurances it was over, and yet he still brought Sally and Cathy home from the hospital. That led to a shootout at his house during a dinner with Lord Holmes as a guest, and a boat chase at the end of Patriot Games, which saw him victorious against Miller, but still put Cathy and Sally in danger.

3 Jack Let Cathy Take Part In The Mission Against Cherevin

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

While Jack’s actions didn’t put Cathy directly in danger in 2014’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, his refusal to tell her the truth about his job still started a chain of events that saw Cathy almost die. Jack’s mission in Moscow had already gone off the rails after someone tried to kill him right after his arrival, but when Cathy mysteriously appeared in Moscow to surprise him – and most importantly, to catch him in a lie – she immediately became involved in an even more dangerous than expected mission. Indeed, with Cherevin having discovered her arrival, returning home after learning about Jack’s job would have only put Jack in danger.

Jack was against Cathy dining with Cherevin and stalling him as he hacked into his computer, but his opposition was inconsequential once Cathy had agreed for the team’s safety to go on with the mission. Still, the fifth entry in the Jack Ryan movie franchise included one of the most dangerous situations any Cathy Muller iteration ever found herself in, as Cherevin’s kidnapping of Cathy and lightbulb threats were not only violent in nature but happened in a hostile country where Harper and Ryan were running a mission. Although Cathy agreed to the mission, she couldn’t have precisely known the implications, while Jack did, making it yet another time he put her in danger.

2 Jack & Cathy Dating Prompted The Lemos Foundation's Interest In Her

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, season 4 episodes 1 & 5

Cathy Mueller already found herself part of the action in Jack Ryan season 1 because she worked with Ebola patients. However, she was only targeted as a hostage in Jack Ryan season 4, once Zeyara Lemos realized Cathy’s romantic connection to Jack Ryan, who was the CIA deputy director and the person who was actively trying to stop her plans in Myanmar. In this case, Jack’s only misstep was to publicly appear with Cathy at his side, but even a small mistake such as that ended up with Cathy risking her life as a hostage in a compound from which Mike had to save her.

1 Why Jack Doesn't Imperil Cathy In 3 Other Jack Ryan Movies

The Sum of All Fears (2001), The Hunt for Red October (1990) & Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Although appearing in all Jack Ryan adaptations, Cathy wasn’t always put in danger by Jack’s actions. Indeed, The Hunt for Red October taking place almost entirely on a submarine didn’t let Jack put Cathy in danger, especially as she only appeared for a few seconds in the first Jack Ryan adaptation. However, Clear and Present Danger greatly involved Cathy, as her information about who she knew as Roberto Landa proved instrumental. She was a close friend of Moira, assistant to the FBI director, who was killed in Colombia. Still, with most of the danger happening in Colombia where Jack was, his actions couldn’t have put Cathy in danger.

The action in 2001’s The Sum of All Fears also greatly involved Cathy, but only as a doctor rather than Jack’s romantic interest. With their romance having only started, she couldn’t have been a target for Jack’s enemies. Working in a hospital in Baltimore, where the nuclear bomb exploded, Cathy was in the midst of danger because of her location, not because she was targeted as a result of her connection to Jack. This made her work trying to save those affected by the bomb independent from Jack, something that couldn’t be said for Cathy in Patriot Games or in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.