He made the studio a lot of money by revving the Fast & Furious franchise to new heights, so we suppose it’s not too surprising that Universal would hand the Bourne franchise to Justin Lin.
The director, who has previously been attached to such bubbling franchises as the new Terminator and Highlander films, doesn’t seem like the most obvious choice to leap from the wildly OTT world of Dominic Toretto and co to the (slightly) more reality-based Bourne series, but the studio must be hoping he can goose the action quotient and make Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross (for he is apparently still the focus) a more viable action hero.
Regular Bourne writer (and Legacy director) Tony Gilroy told Empire’s podcast that he wouldn’t be back for this new film. And indeed, whatever it ends up being called the fifth Bourne outing has a script by** Sherlock Holmes**’ Anthony Peckham. According to Deadline, Universal is eyeballing a potential summer 2015 release, though quite where it might fit in that crowded schedule is anyone’s guess.