Jeremy Renner is taking the place of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in the “Bourne” franchise. He beat out other actors who aspired for the role namely Joel Edgerton of “Animal Kingdom” and Garrett Hedlund of “Tron: Legacy.”

After appearing in “The Hurt Locker” and being nominated for two Oscars, Renner will be making his first appearance as Jason Bourne in the “The Bourne Legacy” to be helmed by original writer Tony Gilroy. Filming will start in September this year scheduled for release August 2012.

A virtual unknown three years ago, Renner has just completed filming of “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” with Tom Cruise. It is also expected that he will take over the role of super spy Ethan Hunt in the “Mission Impossible” franchise despite being nine years younger than Tom Cruise. Other upcoming projects for Renner include the role of Hawkeye in the “Avengers” movie and is expected to have a cameo role in the “Thor” movie as Hawkeye.

When director Paul Greengrass decided to call it quits as far as the “Bourne” films are concerned, Matt Damon announced he was leaving the franchise as well as he only wanted to work with Greengrass. Universal Pictures did not want to let a profitable franchise just die so they announced that Gilroy would take over the directing chores and search for a new lead actor different from Jason Bourne.

The studio is hoping for a dream project that will team up Damon and Renner in a Super Bourne movie in the future. In “Bourne Legacy,” Renner is an operative from a covert government program more lethal than the Treadstone brainwashing program in the three Bourne pictures.

The two-time Oscar nominee is in the thick of filming Paramount Pictures’ Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunter slated to be released March 2012. He will be appearing opposite Eric Bana in the revenge thriller By Virtue Fall.

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