It’s been nearly 20 years since we last entered The Matrix, with Revolutions bringing to a divisive close one of the most iconic and influential action series of all time… or so we thought.
This winter, audiences will be jacked right back into the post-apocalyptic, tech-forward world of kung-fu revolutionaries raging against the machines.
With Keanu Reeves set to return to the fight alongside original mastermind Lana Wachowski (working without longtime collaborator / sister Lilly), things have been kept pretty hush-hush since the project was announced in summer of 2019.
That’s par for the course for a franchise whose mystique has half the charm since it debuted in 1999, changing the cinematic landscape with its sleek digital-noir design and bullet-time action sequences. Here’s what we know so far.
What is the title of the film?
The title of the film has been under wraps since it was announced, but Wachowski recently unveiled new footage from the film at CinemaCon (more on that in a moment), complete with an official title – The Matrix: Resurrections. That title is double-edged, as the film will give the phoenix treatment to the franchise while also bringing back several characters from the dead.
Is there a trailer for The Matrix: Resurrections?
The CinemaCon trailer still hasn’t been made public, but with the release date rapidly approaching, it’s only a matter of time before we get our first glimpse of the one Neo. Stay tuned.
When will The Matrix 4 release?
While originally slated for April of 2022, last year the release date was bumped up to December 22, 2021. The news came as a surprise, both because it revealed how far along the project was, but also because it came with the revelation that Matrix 4 – like all Warner Bros. properties this year – would debut on HBO Max the same day as its theatrical premiere. While there has been some speculation that HBO Max could backtrack on the release model now that theaters are open, so far it’s held fast that The Matrix will be viewable at home upon release.
What is The Matrix 4 about?
Like the secret world of machine-domination and human batteries introduced in the original film, details about The Matrix 4 are extremely hazy and shrouded in layers of secrecy. However, the same CinemaCon presentation that revealed the title also came with a first look at footage from the film.
When we last plugged into The Matrix, Reeves’ prophetic ‘Chosen One’ was extremely dead after defeating Hugo Weaving’s destructive Agent Smith and saving mankind and the machines that enslaved it. Carrie Anne-Moss’s Trinity, meanwhile, had also been slain before the big melee.
Though the new Resurrections footage hasn’t been made public, it’s been described in detail by various outlets, including film-news site ScreenRant. According to those who have seen it, the film will see Reeves’ messianic Neo with a case of amnesia and showing no knowledge of his fight against the machines. In the footage, according to ScreenRant, Neo reunites with an also-resurrected Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) at an indie bookstore, though neither can figure out their connection.
Further down the rabbit hole, it seems that the film will also feature young Morpheus (or somebody who appears to be young Morpheus), who is shown red-pilling Neo back into the Matrix.
Anyone worried that the franchise will reimagine the characters as traversing a memory-loss rom-com need not worry: The footage reportedly shows the heroes wreaking havoc. The reel contained various martial-arts battles, a particularly destructive training session in an arena, sinister agents and Reeves’ telekinetically chucking a missile at a helicopter. Oh, and guns. Lots of guns.
There is no word on whether the events of The Matrix Online – the popular online game that immersed players in the film’s world from 2005-2009 – will inform the new movie, though the game did deal with the aftermath of the third film’s climactic sacrifice. Unlike other games based on the property, it was not written or supervised by the Wachowskis.
Who is returning for The Matrix 4?
Reeves and Moss are the topline stars rising from the dead to headline the film, though whether it will be as flesh-and-blood versions of themselves or new programs based on their personalities remains to be seen.
Jada Pinkett Smith’s Niobe – a character who appeared briefly in the sequels but factored heavily into the game’s video-game spinoffs – will return alongside Lambert Wilson as French information-trafficking program The Merovingian and Daniel Bernhardt as the villainous Agent Johnson.
Just as interesting as the returning actors is the fact that two of the original series’ stars are not returning. Hugo Weaving reportedly declined to don his iconic black suit and sunglasses once again as Agent Smith, while Laurence Fishburne – whose Morpheus is one of the original series’ most memorable characters, and the lone survivor of the first-billed cast – was not asked back, saying in an interview with ReelBlend, ‘I’m not involved. The only thing I can tell you is that Lana Wachowski can answer those questions for you better than I can.’
Is Lilly Wachowski involved?
The Wachowski sisters have become the Coen Brothers of the sci-fi world, working together across the Matrix trilogy, Jupiter Ascending, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas and more. However, Resurrections marks the debut of Lana as a blockbuster soloist.
In an interview with the Television Critics Association Summer Tour virtual panel pegged to her showtime series Work In Progress (carried by Entertainment Weekly), Lilly elaborated on her absence from the war against the machines: “I got out of my transition and was just completely exhausted because we had made Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending, and the first season of Sense8 back-to-back-to-back.
“We were posting one, and prepping the other at the exact same time. So you’re talking about three 100-plus days of shooting for each project, and so, coming out and just being completely exhausted, my world was like, falling apart to some extent even while I was like, you know, cracking out of my egg. So I needed this time away from this industry. I needed to reconnect with myself as an artist and I did that by going back to school and painting and stuff.”
Who is joining the cast?
While some fans are preemptively upset by casting omissions, the new roster of actors is generating enough excitement to all but guaranteed most will take the red pill.
Christina Ricci was recently announced as a co-star, joining Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Ellen Hollman.
The new face with the most buzz is rising Watchmen and Candyman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who many are speculating is playing an old face: Morpheus. While it’s unconfirmed at this point, footage, rumours and fan theories suggest that Abdul-Mateen will be playing a program based on the character, if not Morpheus in flashback.
Others have speculated time travel is involved. Reeves, however, put an end to those theories, telling IndieWire there’s ‘no going into the past.’
The cast also includes a meaty role for Jessica Yu Li Henwick, who previously appeared in Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Netflix’s defunct Marvel series Iron Fist and The Defenders.
Though her role, like the whole film, is still a mystery, she recently told Empire that her action scenes required the type of intense training the original trilogy was famous for: ‘I haven’t seen a cut of the film, so I don’t know what’s in it and what isn’t, but I trained every day for months.’
