Treadstone, a spinoff of the Matt Damon-led Bourne franchise, has received a straight-to-series order by USA Network (via Deadline). Heroes creator Tim Kring will oversee the series for Universal Cable Productions.
The series will explore the origins as well as present-day actions of clandestine CIA program Operation Treadstone, a carryover from the movie franchise, which transformed U.S. Service members into highly-trained and efficient assassins. Damon’s Jason Bourne was the last-surviving participant of Treadstone.
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Per Deadline, the offshoot will follow “sleeper agents across the globe as they’re mysteriously ‘awakened’ to resume their deadly missions.”
Kring will script the pilot to be directed by Ramin Bahrani (99 Homes, Fahrenheit 451). Universal Cable Productions will launch production in 2019.
Kring and Bahrani will serve as executive producers alongside Jeffrey Weiner and Ben Smith of Captivate Entertainment, who backed 2012’s Jeremy Renner starrer The Bourne Legacy and 2016’s Jason Bourne. Also on board as executive producers are Justin Levy (Beyond, Heroes Reborn) and Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas for Imperative Entertainment (All the Money in the World).
Said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, “As the No. 1 cable entertainment network for the past 12 years, USA Network is delivering a dynamic lineup of big, bold programming – and what could be bigger and bolder than the Treadstone mythology?”
In November 2016, series producer Frank Marshall told Yahoo he was eying a sixth installment of the blockbuster movie franchise, saying he’s spoken to both Damon and three-movie director Paul Greengrass about reuniting for a Jason Bourne follow-up.
“Obviously they’re very pleased with how [Jason Bourne] turned out. It’s really about the story, just like on this one, everyone said ‘if you come to us with a good story, we’ll think about it,’” Marshall said.
“So right now, we’re taking a pause and then we’re going to dive back in and try to find a story. We did leave it wide open at the end of the movie to continue on in Bourne’s world so we’ll see what we can come up with.”
That series attempted an offshoot of the big screen Bourne franchise in the Damon-less The Bourne Legacy, which introduced Renner as Operation Outcome agent Aaron Cross. Marshall said the movie-side of the universe “probably” won’t revisit the storyline explored in the 2012 franchise revival.
