No movie has attracted quite as much speculation in recent years as the Bourne sequel/reboot/thingamajig. Rumour and counter-rumour have swirled around the project like mist around Prometheus. When Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass demurred and Jeremy Renner and Tony Gilroy stepped up, the question was: who is Renner playing and how would The Bourne Legacy fit into the existing universe?

Well, Empire put those questions to the man himself. "My character is called Aaron Cross," Renner told us, "but he ends up having a bunch of different names. For fans of the franchise, [The Bourne Legacy] has that same ticking clock, but it's a new programme and new characters."

So is Treadstone still involved? "Yeah, it's that same deal, it's just a new set of agents with a different leash. It's the same tempo and pace but more expansive and bigger. The differences are pretty vast but you'll know it's a Bourne movie."

Speaking of bigger and more expansive, Renner's star is firmly in the ascendant. Next up for the Californian is Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, followed by three major tentpoles in 2012: Bourne, The Avengers and Hansel And Gretel: Witchhunters.

Bourne Legacy is out on August 17, 2012. Check back next month for Empire's full interview with Renner.