One film franchise that’s had surprising longevity is the Matt Damon-led action-thriller Bourne series that began with The Bourne Identity. Since that first film, the studio has produced four sequels — one of which was actually more of a spinoff than anything else.
However, if you can believe it, a move from director Doug Liman could have made the entire thing impossible. Speaking with Uproxx, the filmmaker said:
“Matt Damon and I talked about killing Jason Bourne at the end of The Bourne Identity. We were like no one will see that coming! And obviously, we decided not to do that.”
Indeed, no one would have seen that coming, and a myriad of fans who read the Robert Ludlum trilogy in from the ‘80s and ‘90s would have been incredibly disappointed at seeing their characters’ journey cut short like that. All the same, the release of The Bourne Identity in 2002 came before Hollywood became obsessed with franchising everything, and there was no real guarantee that audiences would even want to see more of Jason Bourne’s adventures.
At the end of the day, keeping him alive seemed to be a good choice. After making a failed attempt at a spinoff with The Bourne Legacy, the studio quickly reverted back to a Matt Damon-centric film with Jason Bourne.
Would you have liked to see Jason Bourne get killed off at the beginning of that film? Let us know down below!
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SOURCE: Uproxx