Reloaded and Revolutions may have been awfully convoluted at points, but they still formed the final two chapters of a linear narrative. However, the release of The Matrix: Resurrections trailer and the new information to arrive in its wake have generated some interesting questions regarding franchise canon.
A synopsis offered that the fourth installment will pick up directly after the events of the 1999 original, even though Neo, Trinity, Niobe and The Merovingian are all returning, with the latter two not even debuting until the sequels. After months of speculation, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II finally confirmed that he is indeed playing a young Morpheus, so it isn’t clear whether Resurrections is a continuation, reboot or something in between that exists in a new build of The Matrix.
Adding another wrinkle to the discourse, some longtime fans have pointed out that Morpheus is technically dead in canon after being killed off in The Matrix Online, which was touted at the time as being an official part of the lore, as you can see below.
Sequel/reboot hybrids are all the rage these days, but given the very nature of the premise, The Matrix: Resurrections will have a lot more freedom to put an entirely different and brand new spin on the mythology. If the sequels are being disregarded as canon in any way, then you’d have to think that The Matrix Online and The Animatrix would also join them on the scrapheap as part of a series-wide continuity refit.
