Michael Peña on How the Twists and Turns of His Latest Project Kept Him Guessing

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Michael Peña is an actor that loves to sink his teeth into unforgettable roles.

From Crash as Daniel to Marvel's Ant-Man as Luis to Netflix's Narcos: Mexico as Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar, he has given fans performances that they will always cherish.

With that in mind, the Mexican American, 47, actor chooses what projects he does carefully—a practice that led him to take on the role of Domingo Chavez in the fourth and final season of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (streaming on Prime Video).

Peña tells People Chica that after receiving a call from the show's executive producer and lead, John Krasinski, he binge-watched the first season and became a fan of the show.

Peña explains, "I was looking for a show because I had just finished Narcos: Mexico, and I just loved the experience [of] telling [a] story in long form. And so we were looking, and nothing was coming up. Nothing was really grabbing our attention. And then John just called me, out of the blue, and he says, 'You know, I have this character, his name being Chavez, like, what do you think?'"

The Fury actor details that he went on to watch the first season of the Prime Video show, which has eight 40 to 60-minute episodes, "in two days," and how he called Krasinski and his team back so share his excitement about working on this project.

"So then, maybe nine months later, he [sent over two] scripts; and the scripts were awesome, better than he pitched. What I really gravitated to is [how] you could feel the tension in the script, and I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm normally pretty good at guessing where things are going to go," he adds.

Peña credits his feeling of "what's next" to the writing Krasinski and his team have brought to the show.

"This time around, it kept me on, you know, always guessing and being wrong, sometimes being right," the Chicago-born actor reveals.

"It took me to different places, and I love those turns—especially when they make sense and they're not forced. And he was able to do that, him and his team were able to write some really cool scripts," he concludes.