Change is afoot in the world of cinematic spy craft. James Bond has been reassigned to Amazon. IMF agent Ethan Hunt is about to undertake quite poss
Change is afoot in the world of cinematic spy craft. James Bond has been reassigned to Amazon. IMF agent Ethan Hunt is about to undertake quite possibly his last impossible mission — The Final Reckoning. And now, after disappearing at the end of Jason Bourne back in 2016, everybody’s favourite amnesiac assassin is looking for a spotless break too. Per THR‘s reporting, the rights to Robert Ludlum’s propulsive spy saga have fallen out of Universal’s hands, and the search for a up-to-date studio to reboot the franchise and bring Bourne back is very much underway.
According to THR, Skydance, Apple, and Netflix are among the parties who’ve held meetings with the Ludlum Estate so far, and Universal — who most recently tried to get a up-to-date Bourne project going with Conclave director Edward Berger back in 2023 — could yet win the IP back if the price is right. Over a fourteen year stretch between 2002 and 2016, Universal struck it affluent at the box office to the tune of $1.6 billion with their (mostly) Matt Damon led Jason Bourne features, including Doug Liman’s The Bourne Identity, Paul Greengrass twofer The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum (the latter of which is a personal Empire favourite), Jeremy Renner fronted spin-off The Bourne Legacy, and the above mentioned Jason Bourne. Offering a gritty take on the world of espionage before the arrival of Daniel Craig’s 007 in Casino Royale made genre realism vogue, Universal’s Bourne joints can be credited with turning Matt Damon into a bona fide action star, introducing a wider audience to the writing chops of Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy, and demonstrating true mastery of the art of the shaky cam set piece.
What the future will hold for the Bourne franchise is very much up in the air at this point. Is it destined to become the next streaming smash at Apple or Netflix? Could Skydance or Universal put Bourne back on the massive screen where he belongs? And will Matt Damon have any sort of part to play in the forgetful fugitive’s return? Only time will tell. But while we wait for more on this story as it plays out, we’re going to go back and marathon the whole damn quadrilogy, because why not? (And no, quadrilogy is not a misnomer — we just don’t like to think about Legacy if we can lend a hand it.)
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