Zak Penn Says His Take On The Matrix Is Neither A Reboot Nor A Remake

We recently learned that Warner Bros. is planning on rebooting The Matrix, but it appears as if those reports may have been somewhat premature. Along with the reveal that Michael B. Jordan is being eyed to star, we heard that Zak Penn (Ready Player One) is writing a treatment and he’s now taken to Twitter to make it clear that his take on the beloved property will neither reboot or remake the franchise.

Here’s his lengthy statement on the matter, collected from a series of Tweets sent out by the writer late last night:

“All I can say at this point is no one could or should REBOOT the Matrix. People who know Animatrix and the comics understand. Can’t comment yet except to say that the words “reboot” and “remake” were from an article. Let’s stop responding to inaccurate news. If I were going to recast Keanu Reeves, I would cast Keanu Reeves. How about just re-release the matrix? Don’t reboot it, you can’t do better. Do I want to see more stories set in the universe of the matrix? Yes. Because it’s a brilliant idea that generates great stories.”

These comments are likely going to come as a relief to fans of The Matrix who were fretting that this new take would rehash the classic first instalment. The sequels were financially successful but not well-liked by audiences or critics, but many still consider that first movie to be an untouchable classic.

Penn’s comments definitely seem to add weight to speculation that this upcoming project will be a prequel or spinoff of some sort as many have theorized that Jordan – assuming the Black Panther star ultimately signs on – could be playing a younger version of Morpheus.

Regardless of how this all turns out, it’s going to be very interesting seeing what direction The Matrix franchise now takes, as it’s definitely a world Warner Bros. can do a lot with. With Penn working only on a treatment and not the actual screenplay though, it’s clearly still very, very early days for this one.