So, what has Bourne been doing all this time? Turns out he’s been squandering his super-soldier training on grungy underground prizefights when Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) shows up with a fresh reason for him to reengage with his past. Now, the real Bourne has resurfaced, and both director and star are committed to making the most of it, holding us in their thrall until the Las Vegas-set finale, when this hyper-paranoid conspiracy thriller tilts into something bordering on silliness. Mostly, the project marks a return to what worked about the franchise - namely, Damon - suggesting the relief of watching Sean Connery step back into Bond’s shoes after producers tried to replace him with a suave male model in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” Meanwhile, audiences are expected to forget both “The Bourne Legacy,” 2012’s disappointing attempt to carry on the name by casting Jeremy Renner in a superficially similar capacity, and “Green Zone,” the gritty (and virtually unseen) Iraq War thriller in which Damon and Greengrass tried to get serious.
But once Damon agreed to reprise the role of Jason Bourne the nail seemed to be in the coffin for Aaron Cross.Call it a rebirth: Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne in the franchise’s tough, “this time it’s personal” fifth installment, titled, simply enough, “Jason Bourne.” To the extent that the entire Bourne series hinges on the notion of an amnesiac action hero - one who remembers how to kill with his bare hands but draws blanks on key details about his past - this explosive reunion between Damon and director Paul Greengrass further reveals key secrets about Bourne’s origins, bringing its lethal protagonist as close as he’s ever likely to get to total recall. Nevertheless, Universal kept trying for a bit to get a sequel off the ground.
(Remember, this was during the era when Damon was still refusing to return.) It didn't exactly work out as planned, as the world collectively responded with a big ol' shrug. The Bourne Legacy was supposed to open a whole new chapter in the Bourne saga, positioning Renner as the new face of the franchise. we're not talking about it." So he's not definitively ruling it out just yet, but it doesn't sound like there's any real interest on that front. "That story is still out there as well but it's not. Meanwhile, Marshall sounded a lot less optimistic about the possibility of more Bourne Legacy sequels featuring Renner's Aaron Cross. Let's just hope it's better than the last one.
A Jason Bourne follow-up seems like an obvious move.
But the movie did make money, and it did end with an obvious set-up for the sequel. It felt like a lazy rehash of themes that had already been explored elsewhere in the series, and suggested the franchise as a whole was running out of ideas. I'd argue that Jason Bourne didn't really turn out to be that story, in the end. I remember when the Bourne team kept talking about how they were waiting for the right story to make another one. We did leave it wide open at the end of the movie to continue on in Bourne's world so we'll see what we can come up with. So right now, we're taking a pause and then we're going to dive back in and try to find a story. It's really about the story, just like on this one, everyone said 'if you come to us with a good story, we'll think about it.' Obviously they're very pleased with how the movie turned out. Asked whether he'd talked with Greengrass and Damon about the possibility of more Bourne movies, he responded: I have spoken to them both. While Marshall isn't making any firm announcements at this point, he did drop some hints about the future of Bourne in a conversation with Yahoo Movies UK.
Producer Frank Marshall addressed these questions and more in a recent interview. Will Damon return again? Will he bring Jason Bourne director Paul Greengrass back with him? And what of Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross - might Bourne Legacy finally get a sequel? So the question now, of course, is what's next for the series. But the wait paid off handsomely at the box office, as Jason Bourne took in $415 million worldwide. It took a while to get Matt Damon back into the Bourne franchise.