“I still kinda miss what we were working on”: Jeremy Renner Fans Will Be Furious Knowing Matt Damon Derailed His Bourne Sequel That Deserved a Chance

Jeremy Renner has been involved in many kinds of projects in his career. While he is best known for his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Hawkeye, he also dabbled in the beloved world of the Bourne franchise. In 2012, the actor took part in a reboot of Matt Damon’s beloved series, which came to be known as Bourne Legacy. Playing the role of Aaron Cross, the film got a lot of positive reviews from fans and went beyond their expectations.

So much so, that a sequel was very quickly announced. Unfortunately, the second film never came to be, even though it was announced to the public, and many fans have wondered the reason for this. Recently, the director of the forgotten project gave an interview, and it is safe to say that Renner’s fans will be very upset with Damon.

The Early Stages of Jeremy Renner’s Bourne Legacy Sequel

When it was announced that Jeremy Renner’s Bourne Legacy would be getting a sequel, it was also revealed that it would be directed by Justin Lin, best known for The Fast and the Furious series, and the screenplay would be by Andrew Baldwin. While the film never came to be, Lin recently gave an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he revealed the real reason why the sequel did not happen.

It was after I left for Fast 6 and Donna Langley (of Universal Studios) reached out and said, ‘What do you think about Bourne andI was like, ‘Oh man!’ and like, Renner’s amazing. And to this day, I still kinda miss what we were working on. I think Matt was done at that point.

He started by talking about how he got the film, revealing that soon after he was done with The Fast and the Furious 6, he was asked if he would be interested in the project. He revealed that he was a very big fan of Renner, so he quickly agreed to do the project.

Matt Damon Had Other Plans

While pre-production for Jeremy Renner’s Bourne Legacy sequel had already begun, there was a sudden change that undid everything that had been planned out. After The Bourne Ultimatum, it seemed as though both Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, the director of the three films, were done with the series.

This is why five years after its release, Renner’s film was released in an attempt to give the franchise a fresh start. However, when it was time for the second film to come out, things changed drastically.

In the middle of doing that, Matt and Paul Greengrass decided to come back. 

Justin Lin revealed that during the scriptwriting process for the sequel to Renner’s film, both Damon and Greengrass had a change of heart and decided that they wanted to come back for another film. This made the studio reluctant to continue the second story and decided to let the new project go.

I think back fondly on it, and there’s actually some stuff in there that I hope to be able to bring to life in other projects because it was such a great time working with Andrew Baldwin on the script and Jeremy, just hanging out and talking about his character was great.

It is safe to say that many were disappointed by the change in events. Lin revealed that he wished he got to continue that story, as he had a lot of very interesting plans for the series. Damon and Greengrass released their film in 2016. and unfortunately, it has been regarded as one of the worst in the series.