Conclave Director Edward Berger Still Wants to Helm the Next Jason Bourne Movie

Jason Bourne might not be back yet, but the people who want to bring him back keep circling. Case in point: Conclave director Edward Berger still has his eye on the franchise he almost took on two years ago.

Berger would still do it, if the stars line up

Berger was in talks to direct a new Bourne movie a couple years back. That version fizzled, but he just told Empire he would jump back in if the project comes back around. He is not naive about how high the bar is, and he is not going to sign on just to make a lesser copy.

"That is all in the stars. I would love to do it, but it depends on the script, whether we can find something for Matt Damon to play that he has not before, and something that I do not feel Paul Greengrass or the other directors have done.

[Bourne] has such a legacy. You do not want to make a film where people say, 'Ah, it is not as good as the others.' There are many hurdles."

Quick Bourne refresher

Based on Robert Ludlum's novels, the series has been a cornerstone spy franchise for two decades. For a memory jog:

• The Bourne Identity (2002)
• The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
• The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
• The Bourne Legacy (2012)
• Jason Bourne (2016)

The last one, Jason Bourne, cleared a solid $415 million worldwide, but the reaction was mixed enough that even Matt Damon acknowledged the shrug.

"This last one did not do as well as the one we did 10 years ago, so maybe people are done with the character. I think everybody is leaving the door open, as we did at the end of this movie, in hopes that we can come up with an intriguing story for the next one."

The rights ping-pong

Inside baseball alert: after living at Universal for more than 20 years, the Bourne rights reverted to the Robert Ludlum estate earlier this year. Then a bidding war broke out, and NBCUniversal won them back. Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer framed Bourne as a franchise that reshaped the spy genre and said the studio is energized to keep expanding the universe for global audiences. Translation: they want more Bourne, in some form.

So what actually happens now?

That is the murky part. Universal has the rights again, but there is no public plan yet. Could be a reboot. Could be another Damon chapter. Could be something left-field. Berger is game, but only if there is a fresh angle for Damon and something that does not feel like a rerun of what Greengrass and company already did so well.

If the studio decides to pull the trigger, would you want Berger steering the next Bourne? I would, as long as the script gives Damon a new gear to play and not just another round of amnesia and asset chases.