Matt Damon wanted to return as Jason Bourne so badly that he reached out to none other than Jonathan Nolan for help—but even the brilliant mind behind Westworld couldn’t crack the code! Picture this: a Hollywood action star, desperate to dive back into his iconic role, only to hit a roadblock even the best screenwriters couldn’t overcome.
Damon’s request was simple—bring Bourne back in a way that would blow everyone’s minds. It’s like asking Einstein to solve a puzzle with no pieces. What happens when even the brightest minds in the business hit a creative dead end? Grab your popcorn, because this is a plot twist you sure as heck didn’t see coming!
Jonathan Nolan Stumped: Can Jason Bourne Make a Comeback After a Perfect Ending?
“I can’t figure out how to do it,” Jonathan Nolan confessed after racking his brain for a way to bring Matt Damon’s iconic action hero, Jason Bourne, back to the big screen. Damon, who’d wrapped up The Bourne Ultimatum with a neat bow, was still intrigued by the idea of returning as Bourne. But there was one big problem: the trilogy had ended way too perfectly.
In the original Bourne series, Damon’s character slowly pieced together his fractured memory, with Ultimatum giving fans the closure they didn’t know they needed. Damon loved the character but wasn’t sure where to go after such a definitive ending. He even mused about a hypothetical future where director Paul Greengrass might find a reason to bring Bourne back after a decade or two. Wondering aloud if a fresh take would ever be possible, Damon explained (via Radio Free):
For me I kind of feel like the story that we set out to tell is has now been told. I love the character, and if Paul Greengrass calls me in ten years and says, ‘Now we can do it, because it’s been ten years and I have a way to bring him back,’ then there’s a world in which I can go, ‘Yeah, absolutely’.
When Damon’s curiosity about a new Bourne flick couldn’t be quenched, he turned to Jonathan Nolan, known for his brilliant work on The Dark Knight. But even Nolan, despite his creative genius, was stumped. After a month of brainstorming, Nolan admitted defeat, emphasizing the completeness of Bourne’s journey. He told Damon (per Screenrant):
‘I can’t figure out how to do it.’ [Nolan] told me: ‘You guys really ended it, you know,’ which we did. We had intended it to be a trilogy and he gets out at the end.
Still, Damon didn’t give up easily. He considered how much the world had changed since 2007—the rise of cyber warfare, economic crises, and shifting political landscapes. These evolving themes could be the fresh material a new Bourne story needed, reflecting our modern anxieties just as the original trilogy captured the zeitgeist of the Bush era. Damon hinted, “This one feels like a movie about today.”
So, while Jason Bourne might be off the grid for now, don’t count him out just yet. With new challenges emerging in the world, there might just be room for one more mission.
Get Ready for Fallout Season 2: Darker, Deeper, and More Epic Than Ever!
Prepare yourselves for the sequel to the magical world and trudge back towards the apocalyptic world as well. Fallout Season 2 is on its way and it’s promising to be even more amazing than the first one. As was stated by the show’s executive producer Jonathan Nolan, the audiences can look forward to darker, deeper and more factions in the new season of the show. He revealed (via Esquire):
Deeper, darker into all the nooks and crannies where the games go.
Character development is about to get a whole lot juicier. After snagging Emmy nods in its first season, it’s a no-brainer that Amazon’s itching to drop Season 2 sooner rather than later. And guess what? We might not have to wait too long—production’s already cruising ahead of schedule. So, mark your calendars and get ready for another epic ride in the Fallout series!
The Bourne series is available to watch on Apple TV.
