Yahya Abdul-Mateen II shocked millions on September 9th after he boldly claimed his upcoming role as Morpheus in The Matrix 4 movie entitled The Matrix Resurrections. The 35-year-old’s initial announcement came the same day after the film’s highly anticipated trailer was released.
Abdul-Mateen — who is currently basking in the success of his other movie Candyman– is set to play a new version of Morpheus, a beloved character originally portrayed by Laurence Fishburne. Fishburne recently confirmed during an interview with Collider that he wasn’t reprising his role when asked about The Matrix 4. The 60-year-old told the interviewer that fans would have to talk to Lana Wachowski, the writer of the series, about why he isn’t included in the cast. The sole reason is that Fishburne himself is unsure about the change. “I am not in the next Matrix movie and you’d have to ask Lana Wachowski why, ’cause I don’t have an answer for that.”
Abdul-Mateen shared the “Morpheus” news on his respective Instagram account by uploading a stilled image from the trailer that displays the actor shooting a machine gun with one word, “MORPHEUS.” As countless fans viewed his upload and expressed their excitement, a few wondered if Abdul-Mateen could fulfill Fishburne’s prior role in the film’s trilogy. They said down below,
“Hmmm are you really worthy of the mantle of… Morpheus? We shall see. Lol.”
“You’ll never replace him.”
“I thought you were a new character. Nah I love you but I don’t like that but I’m going to still support. ALWAYS.”
“Laurence Fishburne should own that role only.”
Prior to his announcement, Abdul-Mateen teased the trailer on September 7 while sharing the film’s poster. He wrote,”Gon head and click on that link in the bio! The Choice Is Yours Visit www.WhatIsTheMatrix.com
#TheMatrixMovie.”
The Matrix Resurrections is slated to be released in theaters and HBO Max later this year on December 22nd.