In 2017, we heard that writer Zak Penn was working on some kind of reboot/revival/remake/sequel/general follow-up to The Matrix for Warner Bros., with original directors Lana and Lilly Wachowski supposedly not directly involved, but those stories quickly fizzled out after a few weeks. Now, though, John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum director Chad Stahelski is going around telling people that the Matrix follow-up is still happening, and that the Wachowskis are working on it in some capacity.
Stahelski was John Wick star Keanu Reeves’ stunt double for the original Matrix trilogy, so there is a chance he would know this sort of thing, and he recently told Yahoo! UK that he’s “super happy that the Wachowskis are not just doing a Matrix, but they’re expanding what we all loved.” He even said he’d be willing to go back to getting “hit by a car” if they asked him to do stunts. However, a more recent report from /Film says that a representative for Stahelski clarified that he was only talking about a “hypothetical scenario” and that he wasn’t really confirming that the Wachowskis are making another movie. Based on Stahelski’s statement, it sounds like he thought it was happening and has since learned that it’s not—unless this is all just a trick and the machines that control us want us to think there’s no Matrix sequel so we don’t start believing in free will.
Reeves, meanwhile, has indicated that he would only do another Matrix if the Wachowskis were involved, and said it “would be a gift” to go back to the series if they wanted him to. Of course, Neo died at the end of the original trilogy, making a vaguely Christ-like sacrifice to finally kill Agent Smith, but there’s no reason a simulated version of Neo couldn’t pop up to interact with a new generation of machine-killing future humans. Either way, it sounds like we’re not actually any closer to knowing if a Matrix sequel will happen, so we should probably just wait until the Wachowskis themselves say they’re doing another one.