The Jason Bourne franchise became a huge hit in the movie market, and it provided an American answer to the James Bond saga. Currently comprised of five movies over 14 years, the franchise may not have much of a future on the big screen unless Matt Damon changes his tune about more movies. The good news for fans is that the Bourne franchise does have a future elsewhere than the big screen with a TV project in the works at USA, and USA just delivered some very good news for that project, called Treadstone.
In a show of great faith in the project from USA, Treadstone has received a series order at USA before even a pilot was produced. This new leg of the Bourne franchise doesn't require Matt Damon, so there's potential for a lot more action set in the Bourne universe without anybody behind the scenes needing to rely on Damon to appear. Treadstone will be an action thriller following a black ops CIA program, which likely won't come as a surprise to any fans of past Bourne projects. "Treadstone" was the name of the project from the movies (and books) that created agents like Jason Bourne.
The first season of Treadstone will follow certain sleeper agents all over the world as they're activated and sent on deadly missions. On the one hand, this could mean that we see characters going through arcs very similar to what Jason Bourne when through back in The Bourne Identity. On the other hand, given that this is an ongoing series and the premise describes it as following "sleeper agents" rather than one particular sleeper agent, we can probably expect Treadstone to go in-depth on a number of characters. Jason Bourne does not seem to be one of them.
The new show will go into production in 2019. No premiere date has yet been set. If it does hit the airwaves in 2019, we probably don't want to expect it until the second half of the year. Treadstone sounds awfully ambitious and action-packed, and such shows aren't exactly produced overnight. When Treadstone was first announced as a pilot, it was described as a prequel to the Bourne franchise as it currently exists. The latest announcement (via THR) does not call the new show a prequel, so it's possible that the plan for Treadstone has changed. Only time will tell.
If Treadstone does remain a prequel, it will mark the second series set in a film universe ordered by USA. The Purge will follow a new group of characters based out of the world of the Purge movies, and it makes its USA debut on Tuesday, September 4 at 10 p.m. ET. The decision to move forward with Treadstone without Jason Bourne indicates that it will likely have more in common with The Purge than with NBC's Taken, which recast the lead character from the Taken movies for its prequel narrative. Given that Taken was cancelled in the spring, this may be a smart move for Treadstone. For what you can watch to pass the time until Treadstone, swing by our fall TV schedule.
