Super Bowl 50 saw the first glimpses of tortured spy Jason Bourne in 9 years when the trailer for Jason Bourne was released. A robust and still surly Jason Bourne comes under the intelligence radar, much to the perplexity of one of its officials, played by Tommy Lee Jones, new to the franchise.

Produced by Frank Marshall, Jeffrey Weiner, Paul Greengrass, Matt Damon,Greg Goodman and Ben Smith, the film also co-stars Alicia Vikander (Oscar nominated for The Danish Girl) and Vincent Cassel (A Dangerous Method).

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Matt Damon (currently Oscar nominated for The Martian) discussed the return of Bourne by highlighting the significant socio-economic and political changes that have taken place since the last movie. Particularly, he focused on the “financial collapse, the great recession, all these issues of cyberwarfare and civil liberties” and the film-makers’ conscious attempt to incorporate the shift in culture that these phenomena have brought about into this latest addition to the Bourne narrative. As far as the man himself, Damon revealed that Jason Bourne completes the tormented character’s “identity journey” and made clear that this was not the beginning of a new chapter in the story of the iconic agent provocateur.

According to Variety, both Damon and Greengrass had to reverse previous assertions that neither of them will return to the franchise. Damon justified the long interlude by emphasizing the need to see a crackling story based on contemporary issues develop “organically”. Speaking to The Wrap, Alicia Vikander said about her role in the film, “I’m not doing the conventional action but I’m very action-driven in this film”. She added about the shooting locations, “we’ve been to several countries in Europe and we’ve been in DC…now we’re in Vegas”.

Referring to the inclusion of Vegas in the Bourne franchise, Eric Price, director of the Nevada film office talked about the “exposure” and “economic development” brought about when a movie crew for a popular blockbuster series comes to town.

The movie is slated for a July 29th release date.