The Bourne franchise consists of American action thriller installments based on the character Jason Bourne, created by author Robert Ludlum. The franchise includes five films and a spin-off television series. The overall plot centers around Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from dissociative amnesia, portrayed by Matt Damon.
All three of Ludlum's novels were adapted for the screen, featuring Matt Damon as the title character in each. Doug Liman directed The Bourne Identity (2002) and Paul Greengrass directed The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Jason Bourne (2016). Tony Gilroy wrote or co-wrote each film except for Jason Bourne and directed The Bourne Legacy (2012).
Damon chose not to return for the fourth film, The Bourne Legacy, which introduces a new main character, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), a Department of Defense operative who runs for his life because of Bourne's actions in Ultimatum. The character of Jason Bourne does not appear in Legacy, but mention of his name and pictures of Damon as Bourne are shown throughout the film. Damon returned for the fifth installment, Jason Bourne. Although the first three films are titled the same as the source novels, the stories of all five in the series are original being only conceptually inspired by the books.
The Bourne series has received generally positive critical reception and grossed over billion. Notoriously, the franchise is also famous for establishing post-9/11 gritty realism tone, heavy use of shaky cam cinematography and frenetic editing techniques (abetted by Greengrass' style) in modern filmmaking, most of which influenced action films around the late 2000s to the early 2010s.
Films Film U.S. release date Director Screenwriter(s) Story by Producer(s) The Bourne Identity Doug Liman Tony Gilroy & William Blake Herron Doug Liman, Patrick Crowley & Richard N. Gladstein The Bourne Supremacy Paul Greengrass Tony Gilroy Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley & Paul L. Sandberg The Bourne Ultimatum Tony Gilroy, George Nolfi & Scott Z. Burns Tony Gilroy The Bourne Legacy Tony Gilroy Dan Gilroy & Tony Gilroy Ben Smith, Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley & Jeffrey M. Weiner Jason Bourne Paul Greengrass Paul Greengrass & Christopher Rouse Ben Smith, Matt Damon, Frank Marshall, Paul Greengrass, Gregory Goodman & Jeffrey M. Weiner
The Bourne Identity (2002)
A man is found floating in the Mediterranean Sea with two gunshot wounds in his back and a device with the number of a Swiss safe deposit box embedded in his hip. He remembers nothing about his life before. Upon reaching shore, the man assumes the name Jason Bourne after finding a passport under that name in the safe deposit box, along with other alien passports, large amounts of assorted currencies, and a gun. He subsequently attempts to discover his true identity while countering attempts on his life by CIA assassins, eventually realizing that he is one such assassin who failed to complete his most recent mission. Bourne breaks his connections to the CIA and unites with Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente), a woman who helped him learn about his most recent actions prior to his memory loss. Bourne's conflict with the CIA reaches a climax when he takes the fight to their doorstep.
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Some two years after learning that he is a trained assassin and breaking his connections with the CIA, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is framed for a crime to cover up the true perpetrator. An attempt on his life by Kirill (Karl Urban), a member of the Russian secret service, results in Marie's (Franka Potente) death in India. Bourne, thinking that the CIA is hunting him again, proceeds to hunt those responsible for her death and his forgotten past. Bourne discovers that Ward Abbott (Brian Cox), one of the men who oversaw the program which trained Bourne to be an assassin (Operation Treadstone), had stolen millions of dollars from the CIA. Abbott had planned to frame Bourne for the theft, followed by assassinating Bourne in India. Bourne exposes Abbott to Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), the CIA officer in charge of finding Bourne, after which Abbott commits suicide in front of Landy. Bourne goes to Moscow where he is identified, resulting in a long car chase through Moscow, ending with Kirill's death. Bourne is in Moscow to find the daughter of Vladimir Neski, whom he killed in his first mission. He appears in her apartment and informs her that her mother did not in fact commit a murder-suicide, but that they were both killed as his targets. Bourne then goes back into hiding.
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
After six weeks of disconnection from his job, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) learns that a British journalist (Paddy Considine) has been investigating his past and contacts the journalist to find out the name of his source. Bourne is subsequently targeted by Operation Blackbriar, an upgraded Operation Treadstone, which also has taken note of the investigation. Believing that Bourne is a threat and is seeking revenge, Blackbriar's director Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) begins a new hunt for Bourne. Bourne manages to take classified documents proving that Blackbriar has targeted U.S. citizens; he is aided by Pamela Landy, who disagreed with Vosen from the beginning and does not support Blackbriar's existence, and former Treadstone logistics technician Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles). She may have had romantic feelings for Bourne before his final mission and resultant amnesia. Bourne finally comes face to face with the person who oversaw his behavior modification as the first Treadstone operative some years earlier, memories of which resurface. Those responsible for Treadstone and Blackbriar are exposed, and Bourne goes underground.
The Bourne Legacy (2012)
Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) is a member of Operation Outcome, a United States Department of Defense black ops program which enhances the physical and mental abilities of field operatives through pills referred to as "chems". Cross, deployed to Alaska for a training assignment, traverses rugged terrain to reach a cabin operated by an exiled Outcome operative. Meanwhile, Jason Bourne has exposed the Blackbriar and Treadstone programs in public, leading the FBI and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate those involved. Retired Air Force Colonel Eric Byer (Edward Norton), who is responsible for overseeing the Beta program from which the CIA's Treadstone and Blackbriar were developed, decides to end Outcome and kill its agents. Cross manages to survive several attempts on his life and seeks a way to get more chems, as his supply runs out. Cross eventually comes upon Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), his last link to gain more chems. He discovers she has no pills but that his cognitive enhancements can be "viraled-out" and can become genetically permanent, so he would no longer need mental chems, as he had unknowingly already been "viraled-out" of physical chems 8 months prior. He, in turn, reveals to her that without the help of the mental chem enhancements, he possesses a well-below average IQ. To avoid this mental regression, and the operatives hunting them, the two travel to a factory in Manila and with Shearing's help, Cross initiates and survives the potentially fatal process of viraling-out of his dependency on the remaining mental-enhancing pills. Cross and Shearing, now fugitives, evade the Manila police as well as an operative from the new LARX program. The film ends showing they successfully escape from the Philippines as passengers on an old trading ship.
Jason Bourne (2016)
Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), whom Bourne sent into hiding in The Bourne Ultimatum, gains access to sensitive CIA files. She contacts Bourne to share information about his past, including how he was recruited for Operation Treadstone and his father's role in that operation. Bourne learns that his father, Richard Webb (Gregg Henry), designed Operation Treadstone and was assassinated by the CIA because he did not want his son to enter the program and become a killer. CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) hunts down Parsons and Bourne using a foreign asset (Vincent Cassel) and the technical skills of CIA Cyber Ops Division head Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), while Bourne plans to avenge his father's death. Bourne first tries to make the man who recruited him into the CIA confirm his understanding of his father's death. He then plans to avenge himself against Dewey. Meanwhile, Lee wants to bring Bourne back into the CIA's special operations and Dewey allows her to believe she has his support even though he plans to eliminate Bourne.
There is a subplot involving Operation Iron Hand, a surveillance program that will have secret access to a giant social media service called Deep Dream. In the past the CIA and Deep Dream have had a contract to work together, but Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed), its founder and CEO, wants to end this cooperation. When Dewey refuses to allow any such change, Kalloor plans to reveal his relationship with the CIA and its plans to violate the privacy expectations of Deep Dream's millions of users. Dewey plans to assassinate Kalloor before his planned revelations.
Future In November 2016, producer Frank Marshall acknowledged that Universal Pictures was optimistic regarding a Jason Bourne sequel. By October 2019, Ben Smith—who has served as a producer on the franchise—confirmed that a film was in development. He said that the sequel would tie into the Treadstone television series.
In November 2023, it was announced that a sixth film was officially in development, with Edward Berger serving as director. It was speculated that Damon might reprise the titular role, although the alternative option was for a different character to lead the cast (similar to The Bourne Legacy). In February 2024, Damon praised Berger as a director, but, at the age of 53, did not commit to reprising the role, should he be asked. In October 2024, Production Weekly reported that the title was listed as The Bourne Dilemma. However, a few weeks later, Berger was vague about his involvement in the film, saying "It's really not clear whether… I'm doing that film or not", and that he was concentrating on his next film, The Ballad of a Small Player. In 2026, Damon confirms on The Rich Eisen Show that he and Berger were in discussions to respectively star and direct the next Bourne movie, and that it was a case of "nailing the story down."
On March 20, 2025, it was announced that Universal Pictures had lost the rights to the franchise. It was then shopped around, with potential buyers including Paramount Pictures, Netflix, and Apple Studios. Ultimately, rights to the franchise would return to Universal, with its parent NBCUniversal acquiring all rights excluding publishing to the Jason Bourne and Treadstone books in a nine-figure deal announced in August 2025.
Television Series Seasons Episodes First released Last released Showrunner(s) Network(s) Treadstone 1 10 Tim Kring USA Network
Treadstone (2019)
In April 2018, USA Network ordered a pilot for a series titled Treadstone, which was written by Tim Kring. The series explores the origins of the Treadstone program and its sleeper agents associated with the agency. By August of the same year, it was announced Treadstone will bypass the pilot stage in favor of a straight-to-series commitment from the network. In October 2019, producer Ben Smith confirmed that the television series has ties to the films, with the show having connection to a future Bourne movie. The series aired for one season before being cancelled in May 2020.
Cast and characters