For many, the impending holiday season is cause for an acute sense of walloping dread, save for one very specific date.
On Dec. 22, at least if current plans hold, Matrix fans will be gifted with the arrival of the fourth entry in the Keanu Reeves-led franchise. But first, Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow have revealed the sequel’s title—The Matrix: Resurrections—and screened some footage that has fans understandably stoked beyond belief.
Per Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglione, a trailer was unveiled on Tuesday during a CinemaCon presentation that opened with Neil Patrick Harris speaking to Reeves’ character Neo in “near-future San Francisco.” Also teased during the CinemaCon presentation was another hotly anticipated entry, the 2022-bound The Batman starring Robert Pattinson
At one point in the newly unveiled Matrix 4 footage, Reeves’ Neo asks Harris’ therapist character if he’s “crazy,” spurring a firm rejection. Later, Reeves’ Neo has a run-in with Carrie-Anne Moss’ character Trinity.
The trailer is also said to have featured a look at a younger version of Morpheus, played in the original trilogy by Laurence Fishburne. The actor previously confirmed he had not been asked back for the new film. When word broke back in 2019 that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II had joined the film, speculation was high among fans that the Watchmen/Aquaman actor would play a young version of the integral character. That speculation continued with this week’s unveiling of the trailer.
This time around, Lana Wachowski is directing the Matrix universe alone from a script penned with Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell. The latter is known for a string of novels including last year’s Utopia Avenue and the 2004 award-winner Cloud Atlas, which received a film adaption from Lana and Lilly Wachowski back in 2012.
Joining Reeves, Moss, Abdul-Mateen II, and Harris in the cast are a returning Jada Pinkett Smith, Daniel Bernhardt, Lambert Wilson, Priyanka Chopra, and more.
Below, peep a sampling of the early reactions to the first Matrix: Resurrections footage. At the time of this writing, there was no official word on when fans can expect a trailer to be publicly released.
