Rumours of Matt Damon's further involvement with the Bourne franchise have been around for some time now. However, given that the franchise has a new leading man in the form of Jeremy Renner, and that Damon has stated that his involvement is linked with Paul Greengrass who at this stage seems unlikely to return, this looks like it won't happen. Still, that hasn't stopped interviewers asking Damon if he would be open to return, and he recently teased that he would be on the terms outlined above. That was before the release of The Bourne Legacy however. Here's what he has to say now that the film has been released:
“There has not been any movement, I've always been open to it as long as Paul Greengrass directs, I don't think he's going to do it.”
He continued: “From what I understand, (The Bourne Legacy) kind of relives (The Bourne Ultimatum) from a different perspective. What that means, because they use our actors and characters, is that they said (in Legacy) is true and so we'd have to acknowledge it in any Bourne movie that we'd do. And that makes it really tough. I don't think we can do the Dallas it-was-all-a-dream scenario. I don't think the audience would go for that after they pay money to see a movie.”
Given that Legacy was the least successful instalment in terms of critical reception and the margin between budget and worldwide gross, the return of Damon would no doubt seem an enticing prospect for Universal. That said, the franchise is led by Renner for the time being, and were Matt Damon to return, perhaps the only logical way would be for Aaron Cross and Jason Bourne to team up. Don't hold your breath, though...
Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.