The Bourne franchise has been a household name in the action-thriller genre for over two decades.
The series, centered around the character Jason Bourne played by Matt Damon, has seen five installments since its inception.
Despite being the face of the franchise, Damon decided to leave the series after the third movie, The Bourne Ultimatum.
In an interview, the Last Duel actor revealed that he felt the series had run its course and that Paul Greengrass, the director of the series, also stepped down.
When the studio decided to make the fourth movie of the franchise, The Bourne Legacy, Jeremy Renner was cast as the protagonist instead of Damon.
Although Damon respected Renner, he revealed that he could not see himself working with the Hawkeye actor in a Bourne movie.
The Bourne Legacy was the only movie in the franchise where Damon did not star as the titular character.
The first three movies were based on Robert Ludlum’s novels where the CIA tried to eliminate an assassin named Jason Bourne who lost his memory.
By the end of the third movie, Bourne regained his memories and dealt with his enemies, leaving no room for continuation.
After the release of The Bourne Legacy, Damon revealed that the studio wanted to get another Bourne movie out quickly, but he and Greengrass were out of ideas.
The studio then gave the movie to Tony Gilroy, and Renner was cast as the lead in The Bourne Legacy.
Damon was skeptical about reprising his role as Bourne and working with Renner.
When asked if he would like to work with Renner in a possible sequel, Damon responded that he didn’t know what the story would be.
He couldn’t see Bourne teaming up with anyone, and the character wanted out, so how do you get him going again?
Despite his initial hesitation, Damon eventually returned to portray Bourne once again in Jason Bourne back in 2016, with Greengrass returning as director for one last movie of the franchise.
All five movies of the Bourne franchise are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
