LOS ANGELES — The least reliable sources for Hollywood development news are the actors themselves. Remember when Robert Downey Jr. "confirmed" he was doing Iron Man 4 and everyone flipped and wrote it as fact? Yet every once in awhile, the talent actually knows what they're doing next and are at liberty to disclose it.

In this case, Matt Damon said he is returning to play Jason Bourne in 2016 — and as it turns out, he is.

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Damon told E! News over the weekend that he's coming back to the franchise (which Ben Affleck actually let out of the bag as the two walked the Project Greenlight red carpet in Hollywood). Mashable has independently confirmed the news.

Where does that leave Jeremy Renner, who took up the mantle for a solid-but-not-spectacular $276 million worldwide box office performance for The Bourne Legacy? Wandering out in the cold, mumbling something about "chems"?

As Damon and director Paul Greengrass return, Renner is out of the picture, but he could be back for another standalone film.

Damon starred in The Bourne Identity (which Doug Liman directed) in 2002, The Bourne Supremacy (Greengrass' first) in 2004 and The Bourne Ultimatum (also Greengrass) in 2007. Damon and Greengrass' collaborations netted more than $730 million worldwide.

Universal wanted to continue the franchise, but Greengrass balked at the next installment, and Damon balked at Greengrass' balking. So Universal made the next installment anyway, with Renner as another member of the superspy agency that produced Bourne, an unseen presence in The Bourne Legacy.

The next Bourne film is coming along quickly, as it's reportedly due in 2016. The fifth installment, slated with Renner and Fast and Furious director Justin Lin, was originally due to be out next summer, but was pushed.

Though Renner is no longer involved, Universal is still open to developing another Bourne franchise-filler with the Avengers actor reprising his role as agent Aaron Cross.

Bourne/Cross crossover, anyone?

Do you know where the chems are being kept? Tell us everything you know about chems in the comments.