A lot has changed in the last decade for John Krasinski. He has gone from being someone who was mostly known as a sitcom star to becoming an auteur filmmaker. Along the way, he also took a stab at being an action hero, a journey that began with a lead role in Michael Bay‘s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. The movie is nearly a decade old, but it remains important in both Bay and Krasinski’s careers. For the filmmaker, it marked a drastic diversion from franchise cinema, after he’d directed four Transformers movies and a handful of big-budget original blockbusters. 13 Hours recently debuted on Paramount+ and became an instant viewership hit on the platform.

According to FlixPatrol, it was the third-most-watched film globally on Paramount+ on October 5, behind only the Tom Cruise blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick and the Guy Pearce vehicle The Infernal Machine. However, 13 Hours was hardly a box office success itself. Released in 2016, it grossed under $70 million worldwide, against a reported budget of $50 million. And while many welcomed it as a refreshing change of pace for Bay, they also criticized his perceived overuse of action. 13 Hours received mixed reviews, and is currently sitting at a 51% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is a comparatively mature and restrained effort from Michael Bay, albeit one that can’t quite boast the impact its fact-based story deserves.”

Bay swiftly returned to direct another Transformers movie, despite the advice of the franchise’s executive producer, Steven Spielberg. The film in question, Transformers: The Last Knight, tanked both critically and commercially. He continued his partnership with Krasinski as a producer on the A Quiet Place franchise and as an executive producer on the Jack Ryan series. Somewhat surprisingly, his next film is a documentary: We Are Storror, about the famous parkour collective Storror.

Krasinski Is Returning to a Couple of Fan-Favorite Franchises Next

Krasinski, on the other hand, last directed the family comedy IF, which made nearly $200 million worldwide. He will return to star in and direct the third installment of the main A Quiet Place franchise, and will headline a film spin-off of Jack Ryan. Krasinski’s last film as an actor was Fountain of Youth, the action-adventure directed by Guy Ritchie for Apple TV+.

You can watch 13 Hours on Paramount+, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.