The Bourne Interstellarcy

Warning, there are 'Interstellar' spoilers ahead.

About two hours into Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar,’ we are introduced to a new character named Dr. Mann that we had previously heard a lot about, but had yet to meet. This so-called “Dr. Mann” was part of an expedition to find a habitable world for humans to repopulate and later, a crew led my Mathew McCoanaughey’s Cooper lands on Mann’s planet. Now, “Dr. Mann” is played by an uncredited Matt Damon, but why was Damon’s part so shrouded with mystery? Why didn’t we know Matt Damon was in ‘Interstellar’?

Well, we here at ScreenCrush HQ have finally figured it out: The reason for all of the secrecy is that Matt Damon’s Dr. Mann is actually Jason Bourne. And it’s no coincidence that there’s a big hullaballoo this week about Damon returning in a new ‘Bourne’ movie. Don’t believe us? (You really, really shouldn’t.) Well, here are all of the clues that we put together to come to this totally real conclusion.

- When we last saw Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum,’ he had jumped into New York City’s East River, submerged by water. When we first meet Mann/Bourne in ‘Interstellar,’ he’s still submerged in water.

- When we first meet Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Identity,’ he’s near death, floating in water. When we first meet Mann/Bourne in Interstellar, he’s near death, in water.

- In ‘Interstellar,’ Dr. Mann is often referred to as a very brave man for risking his life to find a hospitable world for humankind to continue. A brave man? That sounds a lot like Jason Bourne to us.

- In ‘The Bourne Legacy,’ Jason Bourne is nowhere to be found. This is because he’s in space trying to find us a new home.

- In ‘Interstellar,’ Mann/Bourne is on a mission that involves lies and deceit, which is par for the course for Jason Bourne in his solo movies.

- In ‘Interstellar,' Mann/Bourne has a robot assistant named KIPP. On ‘The Bourne Ultimatum,’ the film’s assistant location manager was Kip Myers, an obvious reference.

- Mann/Bourne’s erratic behavior is reminiscent of Aaron Cross low on chems in ‘The Bourne Legacy.’

- The seemingly passive Dr. Mann attacks Cooper, which culminates in a fistfight. As we watch, this “Mann” fellow is obviously skilled in the art of hand-to-hand combat. This is because he’s Jason Bourne.

- Mann/Bourne finishes off Cooper with a well-placed head butt -- vintage Jason Bourne.

- Mann/Bourne has some problems docking his spaceship with a larger spaceship. In ‘The Bourne Ultimatum,’ when we learn about Bourne’s past, there is no mention of spaceship docking training, so this makes sense and is offered as more proof.

- Michael Clarke worked on the special effects in ‘Interstellar.’ He also worked on the special effects on ‘The Bourne Legacy.’ It’s obvious from this that a visual continuity is being built.

- In ‘Interstellar,’ it’s strongly suggested that “Dr. Mann” dies, but of course he doesn’t because he’s Jason Bourne and he will be in another movie soon – which will obviously open with a triumphant Bourne flying his spaceship back to Earth to meet the coward, Aaron Cross, who didn't leave Earth to help find us a new home.

Mike Ryan has written for The Huffington Post, Wired, Vanity Fair and GQ. He is the senior editor of ScreenCrush. You can contact him directly on Twitter.