Warner Brothers is taking the red pill and plugging back into The Matrix, with stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprising their roles for a fourth film in the game-changing action franchise.
Lana Wachowski, who helmed the first three films with sister Lilly Wachowski, is set to write and direct the sequel that will apparently continue the bullet-dodging adventures of leather aficionados Neo and Trinity, according to Variety.
“Many of the ideas Lilly and I explored 20 years ago about our reality are even more relevant now. I’m very happy to have these characters back in my life and grateful for another chance to work with my brilliant friends,” Wachowski told the outlet in a statement.
Screenwriters Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell will produce the script alongside Lana Wachowski.
The film will reportedly begin production in the beginning of 2020, more than two decades after the first film hit cinemas and spawned two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003).
The franchise grossed more than $1.6 billion at the global box office and changed the course of action cinema with its cutting-edge stunt work and special effects.
“We could not be more excited to be re-entering the Matrix with Lana,” Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich told Variety in a statement. “Lana is a true visionary — a singular and original creative filmmaker — and we are thrilled that she is writing, directing and producing this new chapter in ‘The Matrix’ universe.”
Reeves, who’s in the midst of a cultural renaissance — or Reevesisance — with films like John Wick: Chapter 3 and Toy Story 4, hinted that he would be interested in returning only with the Wachowskis at the helm.
“They would have to write it and direct it. And then we’d see what the story is, but yeah, I dunno, that’d be weird, but why not?” he told Yahoo back in 2017.
He added: “People die, stories don’t. People in stories don’t.”
John Wick 3 director Chad Stahelski, who worked as a stunt coordinator on the Matrix films, revived talk of the long-awaited sequel in May when he revealed that the Wachowskis are “not just doing a Matrix, but they’re expanding what we loved.”