When rumblings first started about a fourth installment in The Matrix franchise, the word going around was that the movie was set to be a prequel focusing on a younger version of Morpheus, with Michael B. Jordan heavily linked to the role. That talk immediately ceased, however, when it was announced that Lana Wachowski would be returning to direct her first solo film, and Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss would also be back along for the ride.
Even when pre-production was ramping up, the presence of Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II led many to believe that a young Morpheus was still set to be a part of the story, especially when Laurence Fishburne revealed the pretty straightforward reason as to why he wasn’t involved. There were even theories circulating online that The Matrix 4 could have a time travel element, but all of this speculation seems to have been put to bed by the leading man.
In a recent interview to promote Bill & Ted Face the Music, talk inevitably turned to the 56 year-old’s upcoming slate of highly-anticipated projects, but the John Wick headliner quickly shut down the rumors that The Matrix 4 would be journeying into the past, confirming it will be set after Revolutions.
“No, no. No going in the past. It’s another version, a call to wake up and it has some great action. All will be revealed.”
Neo’s arc seemed to end in a pretty conclusive fashion at the end of the original trilogy, so it’ll be interesting to see how writers Wachowski, Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell approach the story in terms of how the legacy characters end up coming back. Of course, Revolutions marked a disappointing end to what had the potential to be an all-time great series, but let’s hope that The Matrix 4 manages to right the ship when it arrives in April 2022.
