When Lana and Lilly Wachowski and their Sense8 co-creator J. Michael Straczynski needed someone to replace Aml Ameen in the role of Capheus Onyango on the Netflix series, they turned to Toby Onwumere. Sense8 didn't last long, but Lana Wachowski's collaboration with Onwumere will continue, as the actor has just signed on to play an unspecified role in THE MATRIX 4.
Lana and Lilly Wachowski wrote and directed all of the previous MATRIX films, but Lilly doesn't seem to be involved with this one. Instead, Lana Wachowski will be directing it solo, working from a screenplay she has written with Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell. Hemon previously worked with the Wachowskis on Sense8. Mitchell worked with them on Sense8 and also wrote the novel their Tom Tykwer collaboration CLOUD ATLAS was based on.
Onwumere joins a cast that includes returning stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Jada Pinkett Smith, plus fellow new additions Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
There are rumors that Abdul-Mateen may be playing a younger version of Morpheus, the character played by Laurence Fishburne in the previous movies. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he couldn't say anything about the project other than
it’s a very exciting relevant script that I’m honored to be a part of."
THE MATRIX 4 is expected to go into production next year, and there has been indication that some filming for it may take place in San Francisco next February.
Lana Wachowski is producing the film with Grant Hill.