After The Bourne Legacy barely broke $110 million at the US box office – despite costing $125 million to make – many thought that was the end of Jeremy Renner in the franchise. However it did make nearly $300 million worldwide, and while it’s taken them a while to decide what to do next, Deadline reports that Universal has hired Anthony Peckham (Sherlock Holmes) to write the next instalment, with Renner coming back to star.
There’s no news on a director. Tony Gilroy helmed Legacy, but as he also worked on the scripts for all the previous Bourne movies, so the fact he’s not onboard to write this one suggests he may not be back.
There’s no news on where the plot might go, but Universal is apparently keen to build the story of Renner’s Aaron Cross, an agent whose story ran parallel to that of Jason Bourne in the last film, when his former bosses tried to have him and the other chemically enhanced operatives killed due to the problem Jason was causing.
Some are suggested that the delay in commissioning a fifth Bourne film is due to Universal trying to woo Damon back, but as he’s not ready to return yet (he’s previously suggested he’ll only return if Paul Greegrass helms and wasn’t sure where Jason’s story would go now he’s got his memory back), they’re no moving forward with another Renner based movie.