The Bourne Legacy revealed that the top-secret Treadstone project was never just about Jason Bourne. It's time now to meet some of their new recruits.
Heroes and Touch creator Tim Kring is bringing the Bourne franchise to TV for the very first time with the spy-centric thriller Treadstone, which introduces more sleeper agents who've been hidden in plain sight just waiting to be activated for dangerous government missions.
Deadline reports that Kring has cast Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again star Jeremy Irvine and Sense8's Brian J. Smith as the two newest agents activated by the CIA black ops group Operation Treadstone.
[Jeremy Irvine in Mamma Mia 2]
Like Jason Bourne, both Doug McKenna (Smith) and J. Randolph Bentley (Irvine) have no idea about behaviour-modification tools that Treadstone has used to essentially turn them into the ultimate assassins.
Bentley is already in the field as a spy when the series begins, but soon finds himself drawn into an international conspiracy – while McKenna is an oil rig worker whose awakening by Treadstone forces him to examine some hard truths about himself.
What to Read Next
[Brian J Smith in Sense8]
The pilot will be directed by Ramin Bahrani, who most recently worked with Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon on the HBO adaptation of Fahrenheit 451.
This TV series could be the only Bourne-centric content that fans get for the foreseeable future, since Matt Damon was disappointed with the box office haul of 2016's Jason Bourne.
"It would have to be a pretty incredible story to get us all back on the horse," Damon explained. "This last one didn't do as well as the one we did 10 years ago, so maybe people are done with the character."
For now, Treadstone is expected to premiere stateside on the USA Network next year.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.
Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
