Thankfully, Reeves’ answer to this question was rather short and simple when asked during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“We had filmmakers who you wanted to say yes to” says Reeves
Sitting alongside his Matrix co-star, Reeves had a very short answer when asked why he returned. He simply said that there’s just “material that you wanted to commit to, to give everything that you could to,” suggesting that Reeves is reprising his role as Neo because he wanted to do it. Having said that, it’ll be interesting to see how the fourth Matrix film will do in theaters when it’s also going to release on HBO Max on the same day. While this hasn’t stopped Dune from setting a new HBO Max record by making over $370 million at the global box office, there exists enough evidence proving that hybrid release schedules are detrimental to a film’s box office performance. In total, the original Matrix trilogy grossed over $1.5 billion at the global box office with 2003’s Reloaded making the most at nearly $740 million. Unlike the original trilogy, Resurrections will be directed exclusively by one-half of the Wachowski siblings, Lana Wachowski. Instead of Lilly, Lana worked together with David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon to pen the script for Resurrections. So far, HBO Max and Warner Bros. have done a great job keeping a tight lid over the story for the fourth Matrix film as we approach its December 22 premiere date. However, one thing that we do know is that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will take on the role of Morpheus for Resurrections. In addition to this, the fourth Matrix film is also going to get NFTs that will release just days before the film hits theaters later this month. In other news, Resurrections star Jessica Henwick also revealed in an EW interview how she turned down an opportunity to star in the MCU to join the cast of the fourth Matrix film.
