We reported here about a week ago on the slightly convoluted explanation of Jason Bourne’s and accordingly Matt Damon’s involvement (or lack thereof) in Tony Gilroy’s upcoming Bourne sequel, The Bourne Legacy. Now, Deadline have a lengthy and detailed report on precisely what this will mean for the film.
It transpires that the new film is likely to centre around the corporation behind Treadstone, the shadowy government agency responsible for training, brainwashing and reprogramming assassins like Bourne, but will then tell the story of another assassin, who will have gone through similar experiences to Bourne but will have a different tale to tell.
This helps to make a lot of sense of Gilroy’s earlier comments regarding Bourne being “alive” in this film. Bourne can then be referred to in the film as a character we are familiar with and as someone that some of the characters in the film can have previously known and even interacted with. Most promisingly, Gilroy sees this as leaving the door open for Matt Damon to return in a future film, reprising Bourne, perhaps interacting with the new character that Gilroy will introduce and develop in Legacy.
You can catch the rest of the Deadline article here and see what Gilroy has to say about how this new Bourne venture came about, how he feels about the franchise losing Matt Damon and some interesting and (to me) surprising details about the troubled history of the Bourne films. To quote one section of the article:-
Gilroy, whose writing has essentially provided the creative backbone for the beloved Bourne trilogy, inspires confidence that he is onto something that can rise above a simple spinoff. The studio is hopeful the film will breathe fresh life into what remains arguably Universal’s most important film franchise.
What do you think? Is the Bourne franchise that important to Universal? Can it survive without Damon, even if only temporarily? Are you confident that the quality will remain high? Please comment below.
