It's been a while since we last saw Matt Damon's Jason Bourne. Sure, Jeremy Renner helped perpetuate the franchise with 2012's The Bourne Legacy, but eight years have passed since we've actually seen the series' titular character. As a result, fans are curious as to exactly what he's been up to since we last saw him - but the good news is that Paul Greengrass' untitled Bourne 5 will help deliver answers to all of those questions.
Damon is still in production on the fifth installment of the Bourne franchise, but he's been taking a break from the film recently to take part in the press tour for Ridley Scott's The Martian. As such, he's had the opportunity to talk about his action franchise a bit, and it was while speaking with the New York Daily News that he explained what exactly what we can expect the new Bourne movie to be about. Teasing both the plot and the project's process through development, Damon explained,
[Bourne] has his memory back, but that doesn’t mean he knows everything. It’s 12 years since Jason Bourne has been on the grid. So we have to answer the questions, Where’s he been? What’s he doing? What gets him going again? So once we solved all that, then we had a movie.
Essentially, it sounds like the plot of the film is being strongly driven by what's been going on with Jason Bourne a.k.a. David Webb since we last saw him. You'll notice, however, that there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy between the number of years Matt Damon describes and the number of years its been since the release of The Bourne Ultimatum. By the time Bourne 5 hits theaters, we will have only seen nine years pass between adventures - so does this mean that the new sequel actually takes place in the future? Also, what's the significance of increasing the amount of time that's passed from nine to 12? What happened that required the narrative to squeeze in an extra three years?
No official plot description has been released about Bourne 5 - which is based on a script by Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon - but we do know that filming has begun, and that the production has lined up an insanely talented supporting cast (nothing really new for this series). Julia Stiles will be back to reprise her role as Nicky Parsons, but signing on for their first chapter in the story are Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Ato Essandoh, and Vincent Cassel - who will reportedly be playing the movie's central antagonist.
We should definitely be hearing more about Bourne 5's story as we get closer to the release date, so be sure to stay tuned for more details (including a title). The film will be in theaters on July 29, 2016.
