The Matrix Resurrections

The Matrix Resurrections, released in 2021, is an American science fiction action film co-produced and directed by Lana Wachowski. She wrote the screenplay alongside David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon. This movie serves as a direct follow-up to The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and is the fourth chapter in the Matrix series. The cast includes Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Lambert Wilson, Christina Ricci, Freema Agyeman, and Jada Pinkett Smith.

The story takes place six decades after Revolutions and centers on Neo, who now lives an ordinary life as a video game developer struggling to tell fantasy from reality. A group of rebels, aided by a programmed version of Morpheus, break Neo out of a redesigned Matrix so he can battle a new enemy holding Trinity captive. After Revolutions came out, the Wachowskis repeatedly said no more Matrix films were coming. Warner Bros., however, kept pushing to revive the series and hired Zak Penn to draft a new script after the Wachowskis turned down every offer to make additional sequels.

In late 2019, a fourth Matrix film was finally confirmed, with Lana Wachowski directing solo (Lilly did not return) and Reeves and Moss reprising their roles. Filming began in February 2020 but was paused the following month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wachowski considered scrapping the project, but the cast encouraged her to finish it. Production resumed in August and wrapped up three months later.

The film premiered at San Francisco’s Castro Theater on December 18, 2021, and was released both in theaters and on HBO Max by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 22. Critics gave it positive reviews, but it performed poorly at the box office, earning only $160.2 million worldwide against a $190 million production budget. It earned a nomination for Best Special Visual Effects at the 75th British Academy Film Awards. A sequel is currently being developed, with Drew Goddard attached to write and direct.

A young woman named Bugs notices the Matrix is repeating old code in a loop, replaying the moment when Trinity first found Neo inside the simulation. Bugs discovers a program that embodies Morpheus and helps free him. In San Francisco, Thomas Anderson is the creator of a video game series called The Matrix, based on his faint memories as Neo.