Why Neo Looks So Different In The Matrix Resurrections

You may have noticed from the promotional shots of the upcoming Matrix Resurrections that Neo (Keanu Reeves) looks a lot different from his clean-cut and sleek appearance in the original Matrix trilogy. You could explain that away as being a result of the two decades that have passed since those films were made, but what if there’s another explanation, one that reflects the plot of Lana Wachowski’s fourth film?

As this week’s debut trailer revealed, the Neo that we see in Resurrections has forgotten that he used to be The One. In the trailer, we see a conversation between Neo and a therapist portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris. Neo tells him about “dreams that weren’t just dreams” and questions his own sanity. By the end of the sizzle reel, it seems Neo has remembered who he was, who he perhaps still is.

Neo appears throughout the trailer with long hair and a salt-and-pepper beard. In addition to maintaining the aesthetic that Keanu Reeves has established in the John Wick franchise, Screen Rant posits that his appearance fits perfectly as how we imagine aging messiahs to look. Consider the appearance of Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, for example.

The trailer, however, suggests that Neo is much more actively involved in the plot of Matrix Resurrections than Luke Skywalker was in Episode 8. The name Matrix Revelations may have been too similar to Revolutions to use, but we can expect the second coming of Neo when the new film hits our screens in December, either way.