Bourne Legacy Star Jeremy Renner Teases Return to Acting After Near-Fatal Accident: "I'll Be Trying My Hardest"

Jeremy Renner is finally getting back on set one year after a snowplow accident nearly claimed the 52-year-old actor's life at his Lake Tahoe residence in Nevada. Reposting an Instagram story shared by Mayor of Kingstown co-star Emma Laird this week, The Bourne Legacy star revealed that he will officially return to the world of acting this week. Renner confirmed the news again during a special New Year's Eve interview with Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper for CNN.

"I think I'm ready, I think I'm strong enough," he said. "We'll see ... but I'll be doing my best, trying my hardest."

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Aside from a small voiceover role as Clint Barton/Hawkeye in Marvel's second season of What If...?, Renner has been noticeably absent from the pop culture landscape — something that has less to do with recovery and more with spending time on things that truly matter.

“I just feel very blessed and very lucky to be upright and walk around and to live life,” he explained during an interview with CNN this past fall. "I’m very, very clear. My life is really lean, if that makes sense. There’s no fat in my life anymore. I don’t have time for that. So, there’s something really beautiful about having that superpower."

Jeremy Renner ready to return to acting one year after snowplow accident

Renner nearly died last January after sustaining "blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries" while operating a Snowcat. Thankfully, his neighbor, a licensed physician, acted quickly to prevent fatal blood loss before the actor was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. He shared an update on his Instagram profile just two days after the accident took place, writing: “Thank you all for your kind words. I'm too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all."

After a two-week stint in the hospital, Renner, who had broken over 30 bones when the snowplow ran him over, was able to go back home for the remainder of his recovery period. And by the time April rolled around, the actor was well enough to make his first public appearance since the accident by walking the red carpet for his new docuseries, Rennervations, with the help of a cane.

"I shift the narrative of being victimized or making a mistake or anything else," he told Diane Swayer. "I refuse to be f—ing haunted by that memory that way." 

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Renner, who was the second-most Googled person of 2023, released a musical diary entitled Wait — described as a "story of life, death, recovery, all things learned along the way" — on New Year's Day (the one-year anniversary of the accident).

"Music has always been pretty cathartic and healing for me," he said during the aforementioned interview with Cohen and Cooper. "This is more of a narrative of the life, death, and recovery of all last year. It's like more of a journal entry. The music crosses a lot of different genres, it's more cinematic in a lot of ways."

Is Jeremy Renner in a wheelchair after snow plow accident?

No, Jeremy Renner is not in a wheelchair following his near-fatal snowplow accident and has full control of his legs.

Check out Renner's action chops in The Bourne Legacy — now available to own from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.