Justin Lin, the director of the last four films in the Fast & Furious franchise, will direct the next Bourne film. According to Deadline, Universal may have its next international spy thriller out in the summer of 2015.
The next Bourne movie will, most likely, continue the story of Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross from The Bourne Legacy. The box office take from Legacy would indicate that most audiences lost interest in the series after the departure of the original star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass. There was a rumor back in August that Damon and Greengrass might return, though Universal denied it. The announcement that Lin will direct would seem to put that rumor to bed for good.
Lin took over directing duties for The Fast & The Furious with the third film, Tokyo Drift (2006) and has stuck with the series through 2013’s Fast & Furious 6. While the first two films in the franchise were both modest hits, Lin’s two most recent efforts were the most financially successful films in the series. With the Bourne series now in a possible slump, Universal mostly likely hopes that Lin can reinvigorate another franchise.
James Wan, one of the creators of the Saw franchise, is currently set to take over the Fast & Furious series for its seventh film. Anthony Peckham (Sherlock Holmes) will write the still-untitled Bourne 5.