'Treadstone' Trailer: The Jason Bourne Spin-Off Series Awakens Sleeper Agents

The Jason Bourne franchise is slowly proving that it doesn't even need Jason Bourne to get people to watch. Probably. The new USA Network Bourne spin-off Treadstone has its first trailer and doesn't once mention Matt Damon's famous super-assassin, though it is firmly embedded in the world of the films. The series instead follows three new sleeper agents who are awakened at the same time by mysterious forces. Watch the Treadstone trailer below.

Heroes creator Tim Kring is developing the 10-episode spin-off series which "explores 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. The series follows sleeper agents across the globe as they're mysteriously 'awakened' to resume their deadly missions."

However, despite the title, these sleeper agents aren't exactly from Treadstone. Specifically, they're part of a Treadstone program called "Cicada," executive producer Ben Smith, who also served as producer of Jason Bourne and The Bourne Legacy, told Entertainment Weekly. Smith said:

"These Cicadas have very different trajectories upon finding themselves 'awakened' over a decade after volunteering for a black-ops program of which they have no memory. Their ordinary cover lives, which they believed to be real, are thrown into chaos when they are activated to perform deadly missions. Their journey will take viewers on a thrilling ride as they uncover the truth.

Instead of focusing on one character like the Bourne films, Treadstone will follow multiple sleeper agents through multiple storylines, and even let us get to know a disgraced journalist working as a London taxi driver and an elderly couple living in the countryside of Russia, Smith said. It's quite an ambitious, sprawling scope for a 10-episode series, but since we've lived with this franchise for almost two decades, it will probably be easy to slip back into this world.

The series stars Brian J. Smith, Jeremy Irvine, Michelle Forbes, Omar Metwally, Tracy Ifeachor, Han Hyo-joo, Gabrielle Scharnitzky, Michael Gaston, Shruti Haasan, and Emilia Schüle.

Treadstone premieres on USA Network this October.