A TV series based on the world of Jason Bourne, the amnesiac assassin-spy brought to life on the big screen by Matt Damon, is in the works.

The spin-off, which is called ‘Treadstone,’ explores the origin story and present-day actions of Operation Treadstone, the fictional CIA black ops program that turned Bourne into a superhuman, killing machine.

The first season follows sleeper agents across the globe as they’re mysteriously “awakened” to resume their deadly missions.

After being announced as a pilot USA Network had in development back in April, it has since bypassed that stage and gone straight-to-series. Production will commence in 2019.

Deadline reports that Universal Cable Productions, the studio behind ‘Treadstone’, is negotiating an international distribution deal with Amazon. ‘Treadstone’ could thus follow a similar path to UCP’s Syfy’s ‘Nightflyers’, which is getting international distribution via Netflix.

‘Heroes’ creator Tim Kring will serve as showrunner on ‘Treadstone’.

This isn’t the first TV adaptation of Jason Bourne, which was a character created by novelist Robert Ludlum. ‘The Bourne Identity’ was previously adapted into a 1988 TV film.

However, it is the trilogy starring Matt Damon (excluding ‘The Bourne Legacy’ starring Jeremy Renner and the recent 2016 ‘Jason Bourne’ movie) that has proven the most popular.

 

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