Jake Gyllenhaal to take on The Bourne Legacy?

jake gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal could be about to replace Matt Damon as the macho man-hero of the Bourne film series.

The Source Code star is currently heading up a list of promising young actors who writer-director Tony Gilroy is considering for his Bourne Legacy.

Other actors on that list include Tobey Maguire, Garrett Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch and Kellan Lutz, though apparently a much longer list includes the likes of Josh Hartnett, Paul Dano, Michael Fassbender and Alex Pettyfer.

The bigger names are apparently mostly at the behest of Universal, who are understandably antsy that they get their casting on this new Bourne adventure 100% right.

Gilroy, though, seems to know exactly who he wants – but isn’t telling yet. Still, he’s requesting that all the actors screen test, and apparently isn’t against the idea of casting an unknown talent.

This new Bourne film will deal with the ramifications of the end of Ultimatum while pushing a new hero to the forefront of the narrative, giving Bourne himself a breather after all that jumping and fighting.

Who'll emerge victorious? We imagine scheduling and a no-doubt multiple film contract will play a key role in who falls by the wayside. But Jake as a new action hero? Now that we'd like to see.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.