This 'Matrix 4' Theory Explains the Huge Age Jumps for Trinity, Neo, and Niobe
The Matrix 4 will see Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Jada Pinkett Smith return to their roles of Neo, Trinity, and Niobe. But it doesn't take an eagle-eyed superfan to notice that all the actors are notably older than they were the last time we saw them in The Matrix.
It's been 17 years since The Matrix Revolutions came out in cinemas, so obviously Moss, Reeves, Smith, and everyone else involved in the original has aged 17 years (though Reeves may not look it and is possibly immortal). Besides which, there's the little issue of both Trinity and Neo being dead(ish) at the end of Revolutions.
One Redditor has come to the rescue, providing two theories as to how Reeves, Moss, and Smith can return, aged almost two decades, to their roles in The Matrix 4. The theory specifically speaks to Neo and Trinity but could apply to Niobe too.
To understand how this theory – or the Matrix at all – works, we have to reiterate some ground rules as established in the original trilogy. Rule one: a Chosen One is an unavoidable presence in the Matrix because it's in humanity's nature to eventually want to stage a revolution, and also because the machines know that without a revolution, or something to rally against, human brains will reject the Matrix and the system will crash. The maths dictates a Chosen One is necessary.
Rule two: a Chosen One doesn't always have to look like Keanu Reeves, but it can always look like Keanu Reeves.
The first theory posits that the Matrix isn't creating new people each time (like the human race has always done except through weird pod-based IVF) but rather they have a bank of DNA from which they create humans. And just because a clone is genetically identical doesn't mean they look identical. (Anyone remember Barbara Streisand's cloned dogs?)
If the system creates new people at each iteration of The Matrix (The Matrix 4 would presumably feature their seventh go at a machine-led utopia), a new Chosen One is made. They could look like Keanu Reeves—or not.
When each new simulation runs, it could take any amount of time for a Chosen One to realize they're in a computer-simulated reality and achieve their destiny. So there's always a chance that The Matrix 4's Neo took 55 years (Reeves' current age) to realize he is the Chosen One.
This feeds back into the final moments of The Matrix Revolutions, in which the Oracle says she thinks they'll see Neo again. They will, but it doesn't mean it's the same guy—he just looks the same (because you'll also remember that DNA doesn't wholly dictate personality either).
All of this also applies to Trinity and Niobe—both of whom could be pulled from the original pool of DNA the Machines are using to repopulate their matrix (and keep the pods full of bodies).
The other option to explain the age jump is that the people The Matrix 4 are following all actually exist before the machine takeover. If Trinity, Niobe, and Neo are all the original human iterations of their DNA strands, fighting against the reign of the machines, this means they end the film losing and become enslaved, their DNA harvested and used again and again in the following iterations of the Matrix (which become the first Matrix film, Reloaded, and Revolutions).
What a bleak idea...
The Matrix 4 is due to be released in cinemas on May 21, 2021—the same day as John Wick 4.
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