The Bourne** Reunion is official (though it’s not officially called The Bourne Reunion). E! News tracked Matt Damon down to a red carpet in Hollywood this weekend, and he’s confirmed that he and Paul Greengrass will indeed return for a new outing of the action franchise.
"Yes, next year," Damon told E!’s team. "It'll be in 2016 when the movie will actually come out. Paul Greengrass is going to do another one and that's all I ever said. I just needed him to say yes." Damon was out promoting the new series of his filmmaking competition reality show Project Greenlight that is returning to US cable channel HBO.
And the news was initially brought up by Damon’s pal and Greenlight collaborator Ben Affleck, who was asked to compare their muscle tone given his recent Bat-workouts: "Well, Matt’s going to be doing a Bourne movie next fall when I've just completely lost any semblance of physical fitness…”
Damon and Greengrass have said on the record that they had no plans to revisit a story they felt they had already told. But they also both mooted a potential return if the right script could be found and they could work together again, and such is now the case.
With Damon’s comments, it appears the new Jason Bourne-focused film will indeed inherit the July 15, 2016 release slot that had been handed to the Bourne Legacy follow-up that Justin Lin is developing to direct.