It has been nearly 17 years since audiences last had the chance to revisit the world of The Matrix on the big screen, but that particular pop culture drought is well on its way towards reaching a conclusion. There are many who swore it would never happen, but The Matrix 4 is scheduled for release next May, and production has already begun.
Oh, and said production is currently in the process of blowing up San Francisco.
They are controlled explosions, of course, but they still look rather epic – as you can see watching the fan-recorded video from Twitter below:
Given that we know absolutely nothing about the plot of The Matrix 4 – which has been scripted by the team of Aleksandar Hemon, David Mitchell, and Lana Wachowski – we can't say with any kind of certainty what it is that is going on in the scene being shot here, but one can make a pretty good guess that things are going pretty nuts. There are multiple low-flying helicopters in action (we assume that they are being filmed and just holding cameras), and the short clip is punctuated by some massive fireballs.
This is the second time this month that some cool The Matrix 4 action has been captured in San Francisco, as it was just a few weeks ago that we got a glimpse at a particularly crazy stunt featuring a couple of people leaping off of a roof while attached to wires strung up between skyscrapers. It definitely doesn't appear that the 2021 blockbuster is going to have any kind of shortage in action, which is certainly a good thing given what expectations are going to be.
It's assumed that The Matrix 4 will pick up after the events of The Matrix Revolutions, which saw the evil Sentinels leave the human-populated Zion and the titular computer program rebooted – though there is going to be some explanation necessary for the return of Keanu Reeves as Neo, given that he died at the end of the last story.
It has been confirmed that Reeves will be back in the lead role, and he will be reunited with Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity and Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe. Set to join the science-fiction franchise with The Matrix 4 are Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Toby Onwumere, Marx Riemelt, Erendira Ibarra, Priyanka Chopra, Andrew Caldwell, and Brian J. Smith.
Lana Wachowski is back at the helm of The Matrix 4, and while we expect that we won't hear a ton about the film's plot for a while, we're definitely excited to hear more details as they become available. Given the project's release date, it's possible that we won't actually see any official footage from the movie until much later in the year (think December), but should Warner Bros. decided to participate in San Diego Comic-Con this year, it's possible that our first look at the film could find its way online in July.
Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest news and updates about The Matrix 4, and head over to our 2020 Release Calendar to check out all of the movies that are set to come out between now and the end of the year.
