Like a kid trying to prise open a particularly stubborn piggy bank, there's a sense that Universal is still figuring out how best to exploit its lucrative **Bourne **brand. There's a sequel to the spin-off focused on Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross still rattling around in the tin, and meanwhile Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass are reportedly back in the fold for **Bourne 5. So will Jason Bourne and Aaron Cross eventually team up / fight / hang out in Denny's and have pancakes? Don't bet against it, says Renner. As the actor stressed to The Huffington Post, that dream Bourne, ahem, Cross-over is still on course.
"I think it really opens up the world and it keeps Bourne’s character active," said Renner of Damon's return during his press rounds for Kill The Messenger. "I think Cross’s character is already going to continue to be active."
The bankability of the **Bourne **franchise is obvious (The Bourne Ultimatum raked in $440m worldwide, a spectacular figure for an adult-orientated action-thriller), but the disappointment that was The Bourne Legacy has clearly given the studio pause. From a viewers' point of view, the return of Damon and Greengrass is all upside, but for the studio it presents some pressing issues given that they already had Renner in place and Justin Lin set to direct a **Legacy **sequel. And there were reports last month that it could be the Damon/Greengrass film that is delayed. So it's still not entirely clear whether Universal is planning two Bourne threads in the near future, or one grand unified sequel, or if it will abandon one thread altogether.
[SPOILER WARNING] Bourne Legacy, of course, left the Cross character steaming over the horizon with Rachel Weisz's meds specialist in tow and revealed that Treadstone soldiers had been drugged to give them their abilities. The challenge of gelling Cross and Bourne into a storyline that doesn't end up feeling like a corny mini-Avengers for spies is sizeable, assuming that's something that Greengrass even wants to do.
Renner seems to be envisaging a cross-over down the line rather than in the next film we see, so we might see him continue with Lin while Damon makes a film with Greengrass and then there's some sort of get-together - assuming they can find some a plot that works for all concerned.
"I think it will take creatives to bring them together," says Renner, "which is what I think is ultimately the plan. I love the idea of Greengrass and Damon, or whatever it might be," he adds. "Let them be adversaries, let them become buddies."
Pancakes, then? "Whatever the heck it might be, them coming together would be a pretty tremendous thing."
Bourne 5 is currently scheduled for July 15, 2016, with the second Renner spin-off (we think; it's all a little hazy) following in hot pursuit.