David Farnor | On 22, Mar 2025

Apple TV+, Netflix and Skydance are all going shopping for an elusive, mysterious product: Jason Bourne.

The franchise, based on the books by Robert Ludlum, has been a mainstay of blockbuster cinema, with a string of films including The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. All those starred Matt Damon as the spy, who woke up when we first met him not remembering who he was. A spin-off film, The Bourne Legacy, also joined the franchise starring Jeremy Renner, but a sequel to that did not emerge, with Damon eventually returning for 2016’s Jason Bourne. In 2019, the franchise expanded further with the TV series Treadstone, created by Tim Kring (Heroes).

Since then, Ludlum’s universe of pharmaceutically and psychologically enhanced agents hasn’t been on our screens. In 2023, Universal hired Conclave helmer Edward Berger to develop a new take on the material, but now, Universal has lost the rights to Ludlum’s work. That means Jason Bourne, and all the potential his world holds for interconnecting stories, is up for sale.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Skydance, Apple and Netflix have all had meetings with WME, which is shopping the rights to the library of the late author. Universal could still emerge as a surprise contender to re-take the rights, if its bid was attractive enough. But in an era where IP is more valuable than ever – and where Amazon has just taken creative control of James Bond – streamers will be eyeing up Bourne with particular scrutiny.

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