Zak Penn talks expanding The Matrix universe, Ready Player One similarities

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Whoa.

Screenwriter Zak Penn, who in the past has contributed to such project as X2: X-MEN UNITED, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, THE AVENGERS, and most recently, READY PLAYER ONE, sounds as if he's planning something quite special for when he unleashes his upcoming film set in THE MATRIX universe. With the gaze of the franchise's most devote fans focused sqaurely upon him, Penn recently spoke with Screen Rant and revealed some details about what's in store for the much-anticipated reboot.

"I’ve been working on Matrix right now. Which is in…a phase right now. That’s a franchise I desperately want to see brought back and, I can’t go in to too much detail, but I’ve been harassing Warner Bros. for years to try to get it going again so that’s one thing I’m working on and I’ve been working on a bunch of other things too," Penn told the entertainment outlet.

While Penn certainly appears to have a fiery passion for bringing THE MATRIX back into the pop culture zeitgeist, one has to wonder what new and exciting twists he can add to the formula that will help reinvigorate love for the Lana and Lilly Wachowski-created phenomenon.

As the interview continued, Penn weighed in on the obvious comparison between THE MATRIX and Ernet Cline's READY PLAYER ONE by saying "I will fight people who don’t under…look, I think OASIS (the interconnected virtual space in Ready Player One) is similar, both the Matrix and OASIS are similar in that they are brilliant ideas for universes. And they are not, you know, when it came out about Matrix, people were like ‘Oh no, they're going to reboot Matrix’ I was like, Why, I’m not insane. I mean, the Matrix is still one of my favorite…they’d re-release The Matrix and people would go see it." You've got to admit that the man makes a fair point. Despite the inevitable hemming and hawing about the project, people are sure to line up for it, if only to satisfy their own curiosity.

Before parting ways, Penn told Screen Rant that he "was at the premiere [Ready Player One] and I was still like, this was better than I ever expected. So I just think that universe is brilliant, I think OASIS is like the action-comedy version of that and it doesn’t always have to be the same characters, you could go in so many different directions so…"

What do you think about the prospect of Penn rebooting THE MATRIX? Would you be into the idea of a shared Matrix universe where Neo is no longer the focus? Surely, the possibilities are endless with a cinematic playground such as this, and it'd be a shame not to take full advantage. Hell, I remember when THE MATRIX first took the sci-fi world by storm when it arrived in theaters in 1999. Everyone was Neo for Halloween the following year, and I'd definitely lost count of how many people asked me if I wanted to swallow the red pill or the blue pill. Ah, memories.

Let us know what you think of Penn spinning THE MATRIX trilogy into something much larger with his new plan. And be sure to share some of your favorite experiences from when THE MATRIX franchise was king, using the comments section below.