Where would you take the franchise from here?

The Bourne franchise is at a bit of a crossroads at the moment. Around 2007-08, the world was its oyster and people were clamoring for more.

Now...we've had a spinoff that was a bit of a mess and didn't take. The long-awaited fourth Damon movie that...somehow didn't bring the magic back, though it had some interesting features.

The continuation novels by Lustbader are doing okay, I suppose (haven't read the latest one) but the character of Bourne has been diluted into non-recognition there and become a kind of generic action hero.

So how would you take this franchise forward, if at all?

A few option I had in mind...


1. A fifth and final Jason Bourne movie with Matt Damon. It would build upon one of the few interesting aspects of the last movie - namely Alicia Vikander's Heather Lee character and her ambiguous relationship with Bourne, as well as the possibility of Bourne returning to the Agency. The film would start with some new mastermind emerging who's a major geopolitical threat. And either this mastermind, or someone linked to him/her is tied to Bourne's past - possibly to a mission David Webb carried out in Special Forces or while in Treadstone. Maybe this individual is someone Bourne believes he killed but the guy is somehow still alive? This necessitates Lee asking for Bourne's help. Bourne of course doesn't trust her or the CIA but he is interested in finding out what this latest ghost from his past is up to? And he really does want to save lives and make a difference, like Nicky would have wanted him to, like his father would have wanted him to. So we have Bourne and the CIA in an uneasy alliance against this mysterious new threat. And I'd like the film to end, if not with a happy ending, then with Bourne finding a modicum of peace at last.

2. A Treadstone TV show serving as a quasi-prequel/reboot to the Bourne canon. It would focus on the origins of Treadstone. The first season would revolve around the hunt for former Treadstone asset Leonid Arkadin who goes rogue on a mission in Russia. Alex Conklin puts together a unit to take him down before he compromises the program. This involves putting a new asset into play - a man called 'Charlie' who we eventually learn is named 'Jason Charles Bourne' i.e. the original Bourne. At some point in the show, maybe at the end of the first season or the start of the second, they introduce David Webb, as an academic and scholar who gets drawn into the intelligence game gradually as an analyst. And at some point, Webb's wife is killed and his own dark journey begins...The end-point for this series could either be the day Webb adopts the identity of Jason Bourne, or the day Bourne is shot in the head and falls into the sea...

3. A high production value TV miniseries that re-adapts the original Ludlum novels The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy, preserving all the intricacies and complexities of the original plots, and preserving the original 1980's period, but with a contemporary aesthetic and tone. Sorta like what BBC is doing with their new Agatha Christie adaptations.

4. A reboot of the movie franchise, which begins with a new variant on the plot of Identity. But this time, there's a twist - the protagonist eventually learns about the David Webb backstory from the books and briefly works as a CIA asset, but ultimately learns he was manipulated and he isn't really David Webb at all. By the end of the first movie, the mystery and ambiguity of Bourne's true origins is restored as he's literally a different character from the previous version (who might even exist in-universe!) And they can take him in totally new directions...


Formerly sn939