Last fall, The Bourne Legacy director Tony Gilroy revealed that the Jason Bourne character (and subsequently Matt Damon) will not appear in the the latest installment of the highly popular spy thriller series.

Deadline is reporting today that Jeremy Renner has been formally offered the lead protagonist role in the fourth film of the Bourne franchise that is expected to begin shooting this September.

The Hurt Locker star beat out many new up-and-comers such as Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom), Dominic Cooper (An Education) and Luke Evans (Tron: Legacy) for the role of Martin who is also a spy on the lamb from a top-secret government program - but not Treadstone.

Gilroy also reveals that audiences will experience the "bigger picture" that sets up a return for Jason Bourne later on down the line.