After being introduced to Riz Ahmed in the excellent NIGHTCRAWLER, I knew that I'd have to watch out for him in future films. Ahmed's star is definitely rising, as he will be appearing in ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, and now Variety reports that he has landed a key role in the upcoming BOURNE 5 as well.
As production on BOURNE 5 is already underway, Riz Ahmed is obviously a late addition to the cast but Variety's sources say that he has always been the top choice for the role. Due to scheduling conflicts with ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, he almost wasn't able to take part in the BOURNE sequel, but thankfully the dates have been worked out in order to allow Ahmed to appear in both movies. Riz Ahmed's character will be a CIA tech specialist, can't have enough of those in a BOURNE film. We don't know much about BOURNE 5 but Matt Damon has previously teased that the film will bring with it a whole new set of questions.
[Bourne] has his memory back, but that doesn’t mean he knows everything. It’s 12 years since Jason Bourne has been on the grid. So we have to answer the questions, Where’s he been? What’s he doing? What gets him going again? So once we solved all that, then we had a movie.
Paul Greengrass has returned to helm the fifth entry of the franchise which will see Matt Damon and Julia Stiles returning where they'll be joined by Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Ato Essandoh, Vincent Cassel, and now, Riz Ahmed. BOURNE 5 will hit theaters on July 29, 2016.