Jeremy Renner’s The Bourne Legacy never got a sequel, despite the fact that the franchise continued after it, and there’s a fairly simple reason why. Matt Damon is the biggest star of the Bourne franchise of movies, mainly because he played the тιтular Jason Bourne in four of the five spy thrillers. However, between The Bourne Ultimatum and 2016’s Jason Bourne, Jeremy Renner took his place as the franchise’s leading super spy. Despite starting what was effectively a new way for the franchise to move forward without Damon, The Bourne Legacy never got a sequel.
On paper, The Bourne Legacy should have been a mᴀssive hit. The Bourne franchise was one of the biggest action series in cinema, and it almost seemed like a spinoff movie was inevitable. Renner was also a great choice to be a leading action star, as he had just starred in wildly successful films like The Avengers, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and The Town. In spite of all it had going for it, however, The Bourne Legacy 2 never happened, even though Jeremy Lin was set to direct it. There’s a fairly simple reason Renner never got his Bourne sequel: Matt Damon.
Renner’s Bourne Legacy Sequel Didn’t Happen Because Matt Damon Returned For Bourne 5
The Bourne Franchise Prioritized Damon’s Jason Bourne Over Renner’s Aaron Cross
Jeremy Lin, who would have directed Renner’s Bourne sequel if it had been confirmed, explained why The Bourne Legacy 2 was never made. According to Lin, The Bourne Legacy was scrapped after Matt Damon agreed to come back for the fifth movie in the series, Jason Bourne.
“I think in the middle of [writing The Bourne Legacy 2], Matt [Damon] and [Paul] Greengrᴀss decided to come back, which is totally cool; that’s their franchise, and I totally understand.”
The reason Renner replaced Damon in the Bourne movies in the first place was because both Damon and director Paul Greengrᴀss felt that the franchise had run its course. However, both Damon and Greengrᴀss later decided there was one more story to tell with the character, and 2016’s Jason Bourne was the result of their change of heart. Universal Pictures decided that Damon’s movie would be a safer and more profitable bet than Renner’s, given its mixed reviews and moderate earnings. Damon was, after all, the main actor ᴀssociated with the franchise, and Greengrᴀss’ direction was one of its biggest sources of acclaim.
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The Bourne Legacy 2 Could Have Seen Renner & Weisz Move Out Of Matt Damon’s Shadow
Though it never got a sequel, The Bourne Legacy did set up a continuation for Renner’s Aaron Cross and Rachel Weisz’s Dr. Marta Shearing. At the end of The Bourne Legacy, Cross and Shearing sailed away from Manila and discussed where they should go next. It’s reasonable to ᴀssume that the CIA and members of Operation Outcome would have continued tracking Cross and Shearing down in much the same way the CIA tracked Jason and Marie to India in The Bourne Supremacy. That would have set up a more direct confrontation between Cross and his handlers, and he might have even gone on the offensive.
The ending of The Bourne Legacy was so open-ended that it really could have gone in any direction imaginable, which also makes it sting more that it never got a sequel. If Renner had gotten another chance to play Aaron Cross, he could have used the sequel to better define his character and show why he was so well-cast for the role. The Bourne Legacy was criticized for being very similar to The Bourne Idenтιтy, but the sequel could have found its own footing outside of Matt Damon’s shadow. There’s no telling what it would have looked like, but The Bourne Legacy had so much potential left.
How Bourne Legacy Compared To Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne Movies
The Bourne Legacy Couldn’t Live Up To The Original Trilogy, But It Was A Promising New Direction For The Franchise
A big reason Universal Pictures decided to stick with Matt Damon over Jeremy Renner is because the latter simply couldn’t live up to the former’s legacy. The Bourne movies – particularly the first three – are some of the best films Matt Damon has ever made. He was perfectly cast as Jason Bourne, and since they were based on Robert Ludlum’s stellar novels and featured Greengrᴀss’ impeccable direction, they were absolute classics. It would have been hard for anyone to live up to Damon’s Bourne movies, and Renner probably did better than most other actors would have.
|
All Movies In The Bourne Franchise |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
тιтle |
Release Year |
Worldwide Box Office Gross |
Rotten Tomatoes Score |
|
The Bourne Idenтιтy |
2002 |
$214,034,224 |
84% |
|
The Bourne Supremacy |
2004 |
$290,835,269 |
82% |
|
The Bourne Ultimatum |
2007 |
$444,100,035 |
92% |
|
The Bourne Legacy |
2012 |
$276,144,750 |
56% |
|
Jason Bourne |
2016 |
$415,484,914 |
54% |
Despite being the least successful movie in the franchise financially and second worst critically, there were some very good parts of The Bourne Legacy. Jeremy Renner is a great action movie star, and he brought life into the character of Aaron Cross. The movie’s action scenes – while they couldn’t fully keep up with previous entries – were more than serviceable, and The Bourne Legacy turned out to be a fairly exciting movie. It might not be the best Bourne movie, but The Bourne Legacy had more than enough going for it to merit a sequel.
