`Jason Bourne` to return minus Matt Damon?

Los Angeles: The deadly assassin Jason Bourne is all set to return on the big screen but this time minus actor Matt Damon, who will not be portraying him.The 39-year-old actor played the titular character in `The Bourne Identity`, `The Bourne Supremacy` and `The Bourne Ultimatum`.

Universal Pictures is moving forward with a new chapter in its lucrative Jason Bourne franchise and has hired scribe Tony Gilroy to pen a treatment for a fourth instalment titled `The Bourne Legacy`, which will be released in 2012, Variety reported. Bourne will not reprise his role after stating that he will not return unless director Paul Greengrass follows up helming the last two Bourne films with a new outing. The first three films were based of Ludlum`s novels and co-written by Gilroy, who is also onboard to write a franchise bible, hints that the studio is looking for opportunities to possibly break out characters from the Bourne universe for spin-offs. Though `The Bourne Legacy` is a book written by Eric Lustabader in Robert Ludlum`s Bourne book series, the fourth film will not be based on the book. PTI