USA Network has officially announced that it is picking up the Jason Bourne TV spinoff Treadstone to series.
The show is being written and executive produced by Tim Kring, with Ramin Bahrani (director of HBO’s Fahrenheit 451) lined up to call the shots on the pilot episode.
Treadstone explores the origin story and present-day actions of a CIA black ops program known as Treadstone, a covert operation that uses behavior modification protocol to turn its agents into nearly unstoppable superhuman assassins. Jason Bourne, the central character in Universal Pictures’ Bourne film franchise, was a product of the program. The series follows new sleeper agents across the globe as they’re mysteriously “awakened” to resume their deadly missions.
Variety is confirming that USA has put in a series order for Treadstone, after having previously acquired the show’s pilot only. The series will revolve around the eponymous (and fictional) CIA black ops program Operation Treadstone – aka. the top-secret project that “created” Bourne – and follow several Treadstone sleeper agents based around the world, as they are mysteriously “awakened” and set back into action.
Deadline says:
“As the #1 cable entertainment network for the past 12 years, USA Network is delivering a dynamic lineup of big, bold programming – and what could be bigger and bolder than the Treadstone mythology?” – Chris McCumber, President-Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment
Originally announced as a pilot on USA’s slate in April 2018, Treadstone bypassed the pilot stage after UCP began negotiating an international distribution deal with Amazon. UCP’s Nightflyers went the same route, receiving a series order from Syfy after Netflix took over international distribution. Other projects in USA’s 2018 pilot slate include Rosario Dawson‘s Briarpatch; novel adaptation Dare Me; and Erase, from Denis Leary and Alex Cary.
It will be interesting to see how much success (or lack thereof) the Bourne IP has in expanding its reach to the small screen… again. The Bourne movie franchise previously attempted to branch out with 2012’s Jeremy Renner-led spinoff The Bourne Legacy, but that film earned an overall lukewarm reception (crucially and commercially) and is unlikely to receive a direct continuation at this stage. TV, obviously, is a whole other ball game and both Kring and USA has managed to develop long-running hits based around similar high-concepts in the past (see Burn Notice, Mr. Robot, and so on), so that certainly bodes well for Treadstone.
Treadstone is slated to start production in 2019. It does not have an official premiere date at this time.
(Excerpts) Read More at: ScreenRant.com and BleedingCool.com