Matt Damon returns as Jason Bourne in new photo

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne.

The 45-year-old actor returns as the rogue C.I.A. agent in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly. Damon, who last played Bourne in the 2007 movie The Bourne Ultimatum, said the new film's chaotic setting reflects the character's inner turmoil.

"There's been the financial collapse, the great recession, all these issues of cyberwarfare and civil liberties," the star revealed in the interview. "We find him in a dark and tortured place."

Damon previewed the sequel last week, telling Variety the film will take place 12 years after Bourne's last appearance. The character will travel to Athens, Berlin, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas as he continues to search for answers about his past.

"It's been great to just slip into that old skin and be on a set with [director] Paul [Greengrass] again," the actor told The Telegraph in September. "Doing another Bourne movie is exciting. Hopefully it will be good as the others and it stands out mostly because it's been so long since the last one."

Damon portrayed Bourne in The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum, the latter two of which were directed by Greengrass. Jeremy Renner took over as Aaron Cross in the 2012 movie The Bourne Legacy, which mentioned Bourne but did not feature Damon.

Damon last starred in The Martian with Jessica Chastain, and will next appear in the yet-untitled Bourne movie July 29. He is also slated for the mystery The Great Wall with Pedro Pascal and the comedy Downsizing with Reese Witherspoon.