More than twenty years ago, THE MATRIX was unleashed and changed Hollywood forever; for a while there, everyone and their cat tried their hand at bullet-time effects and tightly choreographed fights, and the film even spawned two sequels, THE MATRIX RELOADED and THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, which aren't quite as highly-regarded as the first film, but nonetheless formed a pretty solid trilogy.
For close to fifteen years, it seemed as though the story of THE MATRIX was done, but rumblings soon emerged that a fourth film was in the works. Warner Bros. then announced that Lana Wachowski would return to direct THE MATRIX 4, as well as co-write the script with David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon; not only that, but Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss would return to reprise their roles of Neo and Trinity, respectively. After all this time, and considering where the third film left their characters, neither actor needed to return, but they recently spoke with Empire about why they did.
"I never thought that it would happen. It was never on my radar at all," Moss told Empire. "When it was brought to me in the way that it was brought to me, with incredible depth and all of the integrity and artistry that you could imagine, I was like, ‘This is a gift.’ It was just very exciting." Reeves added that the script was hard to turn down, saying, "Lana Wachowski wrote a beautiful script and a wonderful story that resonated with me. That’s the only reason to do it. To work with her again is just amazing. It’s been really special, and the story has, I think, some meaningful things to say, and that we can take some nourishment from."
Production on THE MATRIX 4 had been underway for several months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to shut-down, but the film is still slated for a May 21, 2021 release, but that could shift depending on when production is able to resume.