A continuation, reboot or spinoff of The Matrix has been rumored for years, but now it’s finally happening. The Matrix 4 is officially in development, with Lana Wachowski set to write and direct, and Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss returning to star as Neo and Trinity, respectively.
The Matrix is an iconic and immeasurably influential piece of cinema that remains incredible in 2019, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary. Despite the way the sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, are viewed now, fans are still excited to see what The Matrix 4 will bring. With some of the original team in front of and behind the camera returning, there is hope that it can capture the magic of the 1999 classic.
So with that in mind, now that The Matrix 4 is on the way, what do we want from it? Here are five things we need to see in The Matrix 4.
Answers To Big, Lingering Questions
The Matrix and its sequels left audiences with quite a few lingering questions, and with any luck, some of those will be addressed in The Matrix 4. Before that happens though, we’ll first need to know how Neo and especially how Trinity are back in this fourthquel after their deaths in The Matrix Revolutions. The nature and role of The One has a built-in possible reason for Neo’s return, but there will have to be another explanation for Trinity.
Those are just the starting points because we will also need to know about what’s going on in the film's world. What happened to Morpheus after his mission was completed? What happened to the rogue programs inside the Matrix? How did Neo’s powers work in the real world? Did the peace between humans and machines last and are there any humans still enslaved in the Matrix? If not, what are the machines using as a power source? There’s a lot to dig into and no doubt The Matrix 4 will introduce even more compelling questions.
Amazing Fight Scenes
This one is obvious and a given, but it still deserves to be said. For The Matrix, legendary martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping crafted iconic fight scenes that were like nothing most Western audiences had ever seen before. These fight scenes changed our perspective on what was possible, influenced movie fights for years to come and they still look awesome to this day. The Matrix 4 needs to repeat that feat, and it will release in a marketplace that it helped shape, but one that has evolved in its absence.
Lana Wachowski’s film will play before audiences that have seen the John Wick franchise and The Raid films. This is not to say The Matrix 4’s fights should emulate the choreography of these films and abandon the franchise’s kung-fu style, but they should still wow us and show us something new, that’s different from what else is out there. If we can get some fight scenes that match or top the Neo vs. Smith subway fight in The Matrix and the Burly Brawl from The Matrix Reloaded, it will be a success on this front.
More Of The World Outside The Matrix
In The Matrix trilogy, we learn that the world is essentially a wasteland, and the last remnants of humanity take refuge in the underground sanctuary city of Zion. And for the most part, the events of the trilogy take place in Zion, on the way to the Machine City and within the Matrix. With this new film, it’s time that we finally see more of the surface and what else is going on in the world outside of the Matrix.
Are the skies still blackened? Maybe the world is completely dead, but what if there are other human cities hidden on other parts of the planet? We don’t know how long after The Matrix Revolutions this new film will take place and what the status of the world is, but one of the things we expect in sequels is to see something different and go to new places, and The Matrix 4 is a good opportunity to do that.
A Villain Other Than Smith
At the end of The Matrix, Neo, with his newfound powers as The One, jumps into Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith and destroys him. So it came as quite the surprise to see this villain return in the sequels and turn out to be the final boss of the entire trilogy. We don’t yet know if Hugo Weaving will return for The Matrix 4, but given that Neo and Trinity were both dead at the end of The Matrix Revolutions, alongside Agent Smith, it seems possible he could.
However, if Smith is a part of Matrix 4, he shouldn’t be the big bad. We’ve already had three Matrix movies with Smith as the main villain, and to give us something new and fresh, The Matrix 4 should go in another direction. If the machines are still the enemy, it would be cool to see what else they have to throw at Neo & Co. other than your standard agents. Or maybe the enemy is human this time around. Hugo Weaving’s character could return in some capacity, but we’d like to see the heroes facing off with someone else in this sequel.
Mythology And Philosophy
The mythology of The Matrix films got quite unwieldy with the sequels and some may think it’s a lost cause at this point, but I’d still like to see what The Matrix 4 can do with it. Not all of the characters and concepts that make up the mythology work, but the Matrix 4 shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Anyone who has seen The Animatrix knows there are some great concepts waiting to be explored. Whether it’s streamlining that mythology or expanding the lore and introducing interesting new elements, The Matrix 4 has the opportunity to do some cool things.
The Matrix trilogy is also known for its social commentary and deep philosophical questions. It is amazing how prescient these films were about society and technology, from A.I. to virtual reality to surveillance and our concepts of freedom. The Matrix 4 will hopefully continue this trend and offer some insightful commentary about the relationship between humanity and technology in our modern age and force us to ask ourselves difficult new questions. The Matrix wasn’t just great action, it were these deeper themes that made it what it was.
Despite having seen three films in the franchise, it’s difficult to know what to expect or what we even want from The Matrix 4, but these things seem like a good place to start. What we want most of all is to have that feeling we had after we first saw the original Matrix for the first time, that we had just witnessed something new, bold and groundbreaking; a surreal experience that messed with our heads and opened our eyes.
I imagine that’s not easy to replicate, but I look forward to seeing if Lana Wachowski can catch lightning in a bottle once again.
The Matrix 4 is expected to start shooting early next year. For movies still to come this year, check out our premiere guide and let us know what you want to see from The Matrix 4 in the comments below.
