The long-awaited fourth entrance at The Matrix franchise is in the works, with a tentative release date of May 21, 2021. Here is the first new Matrix movie since The Matrix Revolutions came out back in 2003. While information regarding the project has been relatively scarce, details have arisen here and there to give us a notion of what to expect from this long-gestating sequel. Here’s a refresher of what we understand.
While the first Matrix trilogy has been managed by the two Wachowski sisters, this entrance will be helmed by only one. While her sister Lilly will not, Lana will return to attack the project. Warner Brothers doesn’t appear to be displeased with Lilly’s lack, however. “We couldn’t be more inclined to be reentering The Matrix with Lana,” says Toby Emmerich, the Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman. “Lana is a true visionary a singular and original innovative filmmaker and we are thrilled that she’s writing, directing, and producing this fresh chapter in The Matrix world”
Lana is also working on the screenplay, co-writing it using novelists Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell (the latter being the author of Cloud Atlas, which the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer adapted into a film in 2012). “Many of the ideas Lilly and I researched 20 years ago concerning our reality are even more applicable today,” Wachowski said in a statement. “I am very pleased to have these figures back into my life and grateful for another chance to work with my brilliant friends”
Fans can be sure that Carrie-Ann Moss and Keanu Reeves will return to their roles respectively. Seeing that both personalities died in The Matrix Revolutions, its anyone’s guess as to how Lana will reestablish them but given the string’ farfetched conflation of improbable technology and mysticism it isn’t too difficult to swallow the way they could return. Neither Laurence Fishburne or Hugo Weaving will reprise their characters. Weaving reportedly was requested by Lana when he’d love to reprise his role of Agent Smith, but his operation run of The See conflicted with the shooting schedule and they decided to proceed without him.
Plenty of newcomers to the franchise have been cast in the film. These include Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Gone Girl), Priyank Chopra Jones (Baywatch, Isn’t It Romantic), and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (HBO’s Watchmen), who is rumored to be playing with a younger version of Fishburne’s character Morpheus. Like the film’s plot, not one of those roles has been revealed.
While the film still does not have an official name, shortly after its announcement, Warner Brothers gave it a release date of May 21, 2021. That release date certainly rose eyebrows, as it also appears to be the scheduled release date for another sequel in a favorite action franchise starring Keanu Reeves: John Wick 4. People were quick to inquire whether the studio intended for the 2 films to compete. Many were thinking likely one of the two movies would alter its date specifically to avoid such a conflict, as not only do the franchises talk about a star, but John Wick director Chad Stahelski was Keanu’s stunt-double at The Matrix, as well as its stunt coordinator).
Now it’s unsure if Matrix 4 will see its originally scheduled release. We know that the film’s production has been placed on a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film could very well drop a release date due to this.