The fourth and final season of the political action thriller series Jack Ryan has just hit Amazon Prime Video, to the delight of its many fans. But it's hard to keep actor Wendell Pierce on topic as once he hears I'm an Irish journalist all he wants to chat about is, rather unexpectedly, St Patrick's Athletic Football Club.
Speaking of his Saints fan status, the Suits and Treme star said that becoming a fan of the football club "came about by chance."
"I went to a wedding in Glin - Domenic West’s wedding - and I was asked who was my favourite football team, and I said 'The Saints - I’m a lifelong Saints fan’.
"What they didn’t know was that I was speaking about the New Orleans Saints, the American football team," he laughed.
"So the word got out in Dublin that I was a St Pat’s fan because they are [known as] 'The Saints' too."
The story grew legs, with the Inchicore-based club even listing Pierce as a notable fan on their Wikipedia page. He says, "About a year after that article came out, I admitted to it [the mix-up]."
However, the star's interactions with fans on social media led him to actually start following the fortunes of the club.
"I am now a true fan," he tells RTÉ Entertainment earnestly. "When they won the championship a couple of years ago, there’s a very famous picture of me about 3am in Los Angeles [celebrating]… wild hair, [crazy] look in my eyes."
"I have to visit and go to a game," he says.
The actor, best known for his portrayal of William "Bunk" Moreland in The Wire, was in jovial form speaking ahead of the arrival of the last season of Jack Ryan, with Pierce heavily hinting several times during our chat that this season may not actually be the last (rumours of spin-offs are also rife).
He said: "I wanna see more. I'm gonna say it. I’m ready to do more. So we’ll let the powers that be make those decisions."
For the uninitiated, the series is based on the "Ryanverse" – the political drama media franchise created by American novelist Tom Clancy.
This season finds the titular character, portrayed by The Office alumnus John Krasinski, on his most dangerous mission yet: facing an enemy both foreign and domestic in his new role as CIA Acting Deputy Director. Pierce stars as James Greer, the group chief of T-FAD (Terror Finance and Arms Division of the CIA).
With the series "officially" coming to an end, the Tony Award-nominated actor says he'll miss the off-screen opportunities for "travel and adventure" almost as much as he'll miss what we see on screen: "I had some of the best experiences of my life [while filming this show]... overnight camping in the Sahara Desert... a midnight seafood feast in Essaouira, where the captain of the ship just grilled all of his seafood for me… a trek in Slovakia in the woods.
"It was just great. I had so many adventures. I was hanging out in the Budapest Jazz Club every night. I'm going to miss the travel and that adventure."
I asked if he ever played the trombone on stage at that jazz club, as he learned to play the instrument for his role as Antoine Batiste in the HBO series Treme, set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He gives a clear "no", saying, "I play trombone like a fifth grader."
The main trio of Jack Ryan stars – Krasinski, Pierce and Michael Kelly, best known as Doug Stamper in House of Cards, are very close friends and seem to be having a blast promoting the new season.
When asked if he's trying to work on any upcoming project that Kraninski is directing, Pierce joked that "I can be quiet too!" alluding to Krasinski’s hugely successful post-apocalyptic Quiet Place movie series, where all inhabitants must be silent so as not to attract monsters.
He revealed: "I am actually trying to get he and his wife in a play together [with me].
"I have a perfect idea - that’s the producer in me - to see John Krasinski and Emily Blunt [in it], and I can be in this also.
"I would like to do The Kentucky Cycle", referring to the Pulitzer Prize-winning series of nine one-act plays by US playwright Robert Schenkkan.
"It’s a great play that follows these families over three generations in Appalachia, Kentucky - it’s a really wonderful play.
"And I have the idea, I want to do it at the Edinburgh festival. So I’m putting it out there."
Referencing his penchant to play tough, badass characters throughout his career, usually in crime shows, I ask if we'll ever see Wendell Pierce play against type and take the leading man role in a fluffy rom-com.
"Actually one of the first ever roles that put me out there was a romantic comedy - Waiting to Exhale - with Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett and Loretta Devine."
But what about now? "I would love to do a musical comedy – wow, I just added 'music' to it," he says, laughing, "A romantic musical comedy. I'm putting that out in world too!"
"I saw Guys and Dolls last night here in London – I wanna do it. I want to do Guys and Dolls now."
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan is available to watch now on Prime Video.
