USA Orders Jason Bourne TV Spinoff ‘Treadstone’

USA Network gave a green light to the TV spinoff of the popular Jason Bourne film franchise, giving a series order to Treadstone.

The show, an action thriller about a black ops CIA program, was reportedly approved for a full series before even producing a pilot. The move serves as evidence for the network’s excitement to bring the franchise to the silver screen.

Production is set to begin in 2019, The Hollywood Reporter writes, as the first season will follow sleeper agents — not Matt Damon — across the globe as they’re instructed to carry out deadly missions.

USA ordered a number of pilots earlier this summer — Treadstone being the buzziest — with the Rosario Dawson-led Briarpatch, the Megan Abbott adaptation Dare Me and Denis Leary and Alex Cary’s Erase also among the crop.

Produced by Universal Cable Productions, Treadstone is written and executive produced by Tim Kring. Ramin Bahrani is directing the first episode and serving as executive producer alongside Ben Smith, Jeffrey Weiner, Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas and Justin Levy.

Treadstone will help fill a few gaps left by the cable network, which recently canceled dramas Colony and Shooter. Shooter, starring Ryan Phillippe, was canceled Wednesday, with the upcoming season three finale now serving as its series finale.

Universal Cable Productions and Paramount Television, which co-produce the series, are said to be shopping the show for a potential fourth season in another network. Discussions are said to be underway at Paramount Network, though a source told the outlet it is unlikely it will land there.

Shooter is based on the Stephen Hunter book series that follows the adventures of expert sniper Bob Lee Swagger, which inspired the 2007 film Shooter starring Mark Wahlberg.

Phillippe stars in the show as Swagger, a highly-decorated veteran who is coaxed back into action to prevent a plot to kill the President. When Swagger’s former commanding officer Isaac Johnson (Omar Epps) solicits his expertise in a clandestine operation, Swagger discovers that he has been framed and must do everything in his power to protect his family and clear his name.

Colony launched in 2015 and is set in a dystopian Los Angeles where residents are governed by a military group called The Transitional Authority, who serve an extraterrestial group. Holloway starred as Will Bowman, a former U.S. Army Ranger, and Callies played his wife, Katie Bowman, a secret Resistence operative.

After the cancellations USA Network’s drama roster now includes Suits, its spinoff series Suits: Second City, Mr. Robot, Queen of the South, The Sinner and Unsolved.