In late 2023, it was reported that a new Bourne movie was in the works from All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave director Edward Berger.
The news was welcomed by fans who had assumed Matt Damon's time as the ex-CIA agent and Treadstone operative had reached its end, though the filmmaker dialled back expectations last October when he said, "I'm not doing it right now." Damon has also danced around the subject of returning.
The decision might be out of both their hands, though, as Universal Pictures has lost the rights to the Bourne franchise. According to The Hollywood Reporter, WME is currently shopping the rights to both that spy franchise and the rest of author Robert Ludlum's library at the behest of the late author's estate.
"The goal is to find a new home for the franchise and make the superspy a more regular presence onscreen ... It is too early to say if longtime star Matt Damon would be involved in the new iteration," the trade explains. "Skydance, Apple and Netflix are said to have met with the estate for the rights."
It's possible Universal could win the rights back with an attractive enough bid, but that's some stiff competition, particularly as streamers will be keen to monetize Ludlum's work (he wrote 27 novels in total, many of which didn't revolve around Bourne).
The Bourne Identity was released in 2002 and was followed by The Bourne Ultimatum (2004) and The Bourne Supremacy (2007). Universal attempted to expand the franchise with Jeremy Renner playing a new character in 2012's The Bourne Legacy but the movie didn't strike a chord with fans.
Damon eventually reprised the role in 2016's Jason Bourne. There was also a TV series, Treadstone, which largely underwhelmed fans of the formidable spy.
"No details have been given to me," Damon said of Berger's planned movie early last year. "No, no, no. There’s a great director, named Edward Berger, who directed All Quiet on the Western Front. I don’t know if you saw it, it came out recently. Fantastic. A German director, he’s wonderful. And he said he had an idea. I would love to work with him!"
"So he’s working on it, so I’m looking, I’m as anxious as you are to see if this thing - I hope it’s great, and that we can do it," the actor continued, making it clear it was still very early days for the movie. "At a certain point, someone is going to need to take it over. I’m not getting any younger."
Stay tuned for updates on Bourne as we have them.