I was taken aback watching The Matrix 4 trailer earlier this month, because it’s been years since anything Matrix was exciting, and I’d forgotten how much it means to me. I really love that film (I am pretending there is only one of course). And seeing Keanu as Neo again sent shivers down my spine. And that moment where he and Carrie-Anne Moss meet in the trailer? Ooh ooh ooh.
But where was Laurence Fishburne, where was Morpheus? Or was that Morpheus? No one seemed to be sure, though it didn’t take long for actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II to clarify that he is Morpheus in the new film. For some reason, Fisburne wasn’t invited to the reunion, but let’s not dwell on that. Because for one moment, amid all the speculation, something brilliant happened: people reached for an explanation from a game. And it was a game we hadn’t heard about for years: The Matrix Online.
It resurfaced because it offered, potentially, context about what was going on in the enigmatic Matrix 4 trailer. This is because The Matrix Online occupies a fascinating space within The Matrix universe. Here was a piece of entertainment entrusted by the Matrix creators, the Wachowskis, to continue the Matrix story after the three films ended.
This wasn’t particularly controversial at the time because The Matrix, as far as most people were concerned – maybe even as far as the Wachowskis were concerned – was done. The pressure was off. But it matters now, doesn’t it, because The Matrix is back, and how many of you know what happened after Neo sacrificed himself to the machines?
I bet you don’t even know Morpheus is dead, do you?
Don’t worry, I’ll give you a moment.
It’s true. Morpheus was alive at the end of the films, but a few months into The Matrix Online, he was killed – with the Wachowskis’ blessing. What does that mean for the new films? Could this be the reason Morpheus has returned from the dead looking slightly different to before? And could there be something in the game which explains why Neo and Trinity are also back from the dead?