USA has cast the two leads of its upcoming “Bourne” spinoff series “Treadstone,” the network said Thursday.
Jeremy Irvine, who recently played a young Pierce Brosnan in “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” will play J. Randolph Bentley in the series, a spy dispatched by the CIA to eliminate a key target, but ends up embroiled in an international conspiracy. “Sense8” alum Brian J. Smith will play Doug McKenna, an all-American oil-rig worker whose life changes after he discovers long buried truths about himself. Both are series regulars.
“Treadstone,” a TV spinoff of Universal’s “Bourne” film franchise that starred Matt Damon, will explore 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.
Irvine is next set to star in Alice Waddington’s “Paradise Hills” opposite Emma Roberts and Mila Jovovich. His previous credits include Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” “Billionaire Boys Club” and “The Professor and the Madman” opposite Sean Penn and Mel Gibson. He is represented by UTA, Independent Talent Group and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.
Smith recently starred as in Netflix’s “Sense8,” following other TV roles including Syfy’s “Stargate Universe,” “Gossip Girl” and “Quantico.” He is represented by Innovative Artists and Principal Entertainment LA.
From Universal Cable Productions, “Treadstone” is written and executive produced by Tim Kring. Ramin Bahrani, who will direct the pilot, will also serve as an executive producer. Ben Smith and Jeffrey Weiner will executive produce on behalf of Captivate; Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas will executive produce on behalf of Imperative Entertainment; and Justin Levy will executive produce.
The original series of films, based on Robert Ludlow’s novels of the same name, included “The Bourne Identity,” “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatim.” A spinoff set in the same universe, “The Bourne Legacy,” starred Jeremy Renner and was released in 2012, before Damon returned to the role in 2016’s “Jason Bourne.”