. It appears that title isn't just some placeholder, but that we can take it pretty darn literally. Gilroy called up Hollywood Elsewhere to clarify a few things about the future of the Bourne franchise...Gilroy: It's a completely original screenplay….This is not a reboot or a recast or a prequel. No one’s replacing Matt Damon. There will be a whole new hero, a whole new chapter…this is a stand-alone project.
The easiest way to think of it is an expansion or a reveal…Jason Bourne will not be in this film, but he’s very much alive. What happened in the first three films is the trigger for what happens. I’m building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy…the world we’re making enhances and advances and invites Jason Bourne’s return [down the road].
Even though The Bourne Legacy is the title of one of the awful non-Robert Ludlum Bourne books, it won't be following that story. Thank goodness. Then again none of the films have really stayed true to the novels in any strict way. Gilroy has written all of the Bourne films so far so I trust his ability to navigate and expand on that world, but I still have to question any Bourne flick that doesn't have Bourne as the central figure. Is this a decision he made because Damon refused to return? Or was this the path Gilroy wanted to take all along? Damon has said he wasn't interested in reprising the role without Paul Greengrass directing, but there was no confirmation of that. I guess this is all the confirmation we need really, isn't it?
