The Full 'Matrix: Resurrections' Trailer is Finally Here

Matt Miller, Gabrielle Bruney, Brady Langmann
·5 min read
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The good news: Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are slated to reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity in an upcoming fourth Matrix movie. Plus, thanks to a CinemaCon panel earlier this week, the title of the film has been revealed as Matrix: Resurrections. The bad news: Laurence Fishburne won't be returning as Morpheus.

"I have not been invited," Fishburne told New York Magazine. "Maybe that will make me write another play. I’m looking for the blessing in that. I wish them well. I hope it’s great."

But while we won't be seeing the Morpheus we know and love from the original trilogy, the first full trailer for Matrix: Resurrections debuted Thursday morning, featuring a very John Wick-looking Keanu Reeves. Here's everything that we know about the film so far, including details from its first trailer.

Who is in it?

Along with Reeves and Moss, the main cast includes Neil Patrick Harris, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Jada Pinkett Smith, who played Niobe in the two Matrix sequels. It is rumored that Abdul-Mateen might play a young Morpheus in the new film.

Who is making it?

Making another Matrix movie wouldn't be possible without one of the minds who envisioned the original trilogy. Lana Wachowski, who directed the first three movies with her sibling Lilly, is returning to write and direct Matrix: Resurrections.

“We could not be more excited to be re-entering The Matrix with Lana,” Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich said in an announcement. “Lana is a true visionary—a singular and original creative filmmaker—and we are thrilled that she is writing, directing and producing this new chapter in ‘The Matrix’ universe.”

Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell wrote the script with Wachowski, who wrote and directed the original trilogy with her sister, Lilly. And if you're wondering why Lilly, isn't involved, she recently spoke about her decision to not work on Matrix: Resurrections at a Television Critics Association Summer Tour virtual panel:

"[Lana] had come up with this idea for another Matrix movie, and we had this talk, and it was actually—we started talking about it in between [our] dad dying and [our] mom dying, which was like five weeks apart. And there was something about the idea of going backward and being a part of something that I had done before that was expressly unappealing. And, like, I didn't want to have gone through my transition and gone through this massive upheaval in my life, the sense of loss from my mom and dad, to want to go back to something that I had done before, and sort of [walk] over old paths that I had walked in, felt emotionally unfulfilling, and really the opposite—like I was going to go back and live in these old shoes, in a way. And I didn't want to do that."

So, what could Matrix: Resurrections be about all these years later and what's revealed in the new trailer?

Collectively, the Matrix trilogy—which concluded in 2003 with Matrix Revolutions—has grossed $1.6 billion at the global box office. The trilogy ended with a peace between the humans and the machines, giving humans the option to leave the Matrix entirely. However, both Neo and Trinity die in the final film—Trinity in a hovercraft crash; and Neo after his fight destroying Agent Smith. Though it's teased in the end that Neo will return, it's unclear how both Reeves and Moss will reprise their roles in a sequel.

Though, the trailer tells us a little bit more about what we can expect from Matrix: Resurrections. Apparently, Neo is living in a near-future San Francisco, trapped in a boring existence a la the very beginning of The Matrix. He runs into Trinity at a cafe, and she asks him, "Have we met?" The trailer cuts to assorted acts of Matrix action sequences. Dodging, twisting, karate, the works. It's clear that Neo is brought back into the Matrix somehow, but the preview does little to explain, why, or how Neo comes to realize that he's the version of himself we saw in the original trilogy. Instead, we just get a handful of Alice in Wonderland nods.

“Many of the ideas Lilly and I explored 20 years ago about our reality are even more relevant now. I’m very happy to have these characters back in my life and grateful for another chance to work with my brilliant friends,” Wachowski said in a statement to Variety when Matrix 4 was announced.

In February of 2020, when production had officially begun on the film, some set photos leaked of Reeves that seem to line up with the description of the trailer.

This certainly doesn't look like the slick, godlike Neo we remember. In fact, he looks to be in worse shape than the anonymous cubicle drone he was at the beginning of the first Matrix. What happened after Neo died? Is it possible that his consciousness was uploaded back into the Matrix after the agreement with the robots to end the war? Is he now just living in the Matrix as another regular-ass dude with no knowledge of who or what he is and the reality of the world?

What is the release date for Matrix 4?

Initially, Warner Bros. gave Matrix 4 the official release date of May 21, 2021, but like so many other films, its release has since been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's now slated to debut on December 22, 2022.

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