John Krasinski Is PEOPLE's 2024 Sexiest Man Alive: 'I Think It's Going to Make Me Do “More” Household Chores,' He Jokes

Krasinski’s wife, actress Emily Blunt, has said she’d wallpaper the house with the cover if he got it: “It won’t be weird at all,” he says

wasn’t exactly sure what to think when he got word that he was being crowned .

“Just immediate blackout, actually. Zero thoughts,” he tells the magazine in this week’s cover story. “Other than maybe I’m being punked. That’s not how I wake up, thinking, ‘Is this the day that I’ll be asked to be Sexiest Man Alive?’ And yet it was the day you guys did it. You guys have really raised the bar for me.”

While fans might know Krasinski as a crush-worthy, prank-loving paper salesman, or an intense former Marine turned CIA agent, or a devoted family man sacrificing himself for love, the actor, 45, prefers just being a husband and father, who binges Netflix documentaries and relishes bedtime stories with his kids.

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Now living in Brooklyn with his wife of 14 years, actress , 41, and their daughters Hazel, 10, and Violet, 8, Krasinski says Blunt was “very excited” when she heard the big news: “There was a lot of joy involved in me telling her.”

The actress has even joked that she would wallpaper their house with the cover if her husband received the crown. “Do we have that on camera? Because that’s like a binding contract, I think,” he says. “My children will love that, it won’t be weird at all.”

Beloved for his nine-year run as Jim Halpert on the hit series The Office, he cowrote, directed and starred alongside Blunt in the 2018 thriller A Quiet Place. Its massive success spawned two sequels, while Krasinski, who got ripped for Michael Bay’s 13 Hours, stayed in fighting shape to play the titular Jack Ryan for four seasons on the popular Prime Video series, now set to become a film.

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With this year’s movie IF, which he also starred in, wrote, produced and directed, the actor solidified his status as one of Hollywood’s top filmmakers. Still, the transition took a little finessing. “I had to pitch the studio like 54 times [for AQP] before they said yes,” jokes Krasinski, who next stars with Natalie Portman in the action heist film Fountain of Youth. “I’m pretty sure someone said, ‘Sorry, is Jim from The Office going to direct this?’ And I went, ‘Oh, it’s John, but we’ll get there.’ ”

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These days Krasinski is calling his own shots and appreciates the life he’s built together with Blunt. “It’s that beautiful thing where when you’re married to someone, you’re constantly learning and changing and evolving,” he says. “And I’m so lucky to go through all that with her.”

Not that his new title will change anything: “I think it’s going to make me do more household chores,” he jokes. “After this comes out, she’ll be like, ‘All right, that means you’re going to really earn it here at home.’ ”

For more of Krasinki’s exclusive interview and photos, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday