Bourne spinoff Treadstone will release internationally on Amazon Prime in 2020. Initially known as a series of spy-thriller novels by author Robert Ludlum, the international adventures of Jason Bourne have gone on to become a highly lucrative film franchise with Oscar-winner Matt Damon as the titular mercenary.
Beginning in 2002 with The Bourne Identity, Damon helped to revolutionize the spy-thriller genre, which in turn helped to breathe new life into other similar franchises like Mission: Impossible and James Bond. By 2007, Damon had completed his trilogy of Bourne films with The Bourne Ultimatum and gone on to other endeavours. Bourne fans, however, had not yet had enough of the franchise, ultimately leading to an attempt to kick off a spinoff series starring Jeremy Renner as yet another government operative fighting for his life in 2012’s The Bourne Legacy. The film failed to reach the same heights as previous Bourne efforts, and so, in 2016, Damon returned to the role of Bourne in Jason Bourne.
Since that time, there has been talk of another Bourne film, and while that looks to indeed be happening, the likelihood of Damon returning is currently unknown. What is known for certain, however, is that a spinoff TV series based on Treadstone, the government program that created calculated assassins like Bourne, will be released in the United States on USA Network October 15. For those outside of the U.S., Amazon Prime has now announced via press release that Treadstone will premiere on Amazon Prime as of January 2020. In addition to the news, a new teaser trailer has also been released, which can be viewed below.
Treadstone sheds light on the numerous other government operatives that were created alongside Jason Bourne in the CIA’s infamous Black Ops program. The assassins created for Operation Treadstone have been distributed throughout the world for various missions, and the Treadstone series will reach back to tell the origin stories of the program and its operatives, ultimately focusing on present day Treadstone operatives as well. It’s already been revealed that the next Bourne film may tie-in directly with the Treadstone series, meaning that fans of the films might want to pay particular attention to the upcoming series. Given that Treadstone will be released in more that 200 countries and territories come January 2020, a substantial effort seems to be being made in order to develop an international fanbase in advance of the eventual (?) sixth Bourne film.
With the past success of the Bourne franchise on the big screen, it stands to reason that a TV series based on the origins of Operation Treadstone will be a hit. At the same time, however, the lowest grossing Bourne film to date was The Bourne Legacy, which did not star Damon. If a sixth film is going to be made to tie-in with the TV series, the success of Treadstone is imperative. It’s certainly an interesting concept (tracing the origins of the operatives and the program that created them), but ultimately whether it can capture audiences the way Damon has done thus far with the film series remains a big lingering question.
Source: Amazon Prime