Universal Hires Writer for Another ‘Bourne’ Sequel for Jeremy Renner

While last year’s The Bourne Legacy wasn’t as critically well-received as previous entries in the series, I found it to be a fairly inventive spin-off. Series writer Tony Gilroy jumped into the director’s chair and created a new layer of black ops mayhem which took place just outside the audience’s sphere of knowledge of the Matt Damon-led trilogy, utilizing Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross as a new protagonist and staying pretty consistent with the world made famous by Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass’s movies. The film’s ending, however, wasn’t so much an actual ending as it was just a stoppage of the story mid-stream; to say the filmmakers failed to stick the landing would be an understatement.

But the Bourne series is one of the biggest franchises Universal has at its disposal, so it should come as no surprise that Deadline reports the studio has hired a writer to continue the story from where it left off. 

Surprisingly though, it’s not Tony Gilroy who’s coming back into the fold. The studio has hired Anthony Peckham, screenwriter of Sherlock Holmes and Invictus, to tackle the newest installment, and there’s no mention of Gilroy’s involvement (or lack thereof) in this sequel. The fact that Gilroy might not be around could be a bit worrisome considering he’s been the mastermind behind this entire series so far, but it might also breathe some new life into the adventures of Aaron Cross.

Renner is expected to return, and I’d imagine Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton will be back as well when all is said and done. Don’t expect Matt Damon to put in an appearance, though – he’s said repeatedly that he won’t return unless Greengrass is involved. 

It’s still early in the process, so maybe Gilroy will decide to come back and direct after all. Either way, I’ll go into this one with a little more apprehension than I had with Legacy, and hopefully Peckham will be able to create a story that feels like a complete narrative while still managing to tap into the larger foundation laid by the previous movies. Are you excited to see Renner return to kick some more as Aaron Cross? Let us know below.

(Via GeekNation)