After the relative disappointments of The Matrix Reloaded en Revolutions, The Matrix 4 many of the key creative members of the franchise will return for another statement. Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, en Lambert Wilson are all back to shift their image-defining roles under the tutelage of Lana Wachowski. But what about our iconic pill provider, unique shadow bearer and literal teacher of Christ? Wil Laurence Fishburne return to The Matrix 4 to redefine his inexhaustible role as Morpheus? In an interview with New York Magazine (via The Wrap), Fishburne gave an answer that I could call “an emphatic nope.”
Asked directly about his involvement (or lack thereof) in the upcoming sequel, Fishburne said this:
Image via Warner Bros.
I’m not invited. Maybe that will write me another play. I wish her well. I hope it’s great.
Yikes! Of course, we do not have the benefit of ‘hearing the speaker’s intentions, but writing in this context,’ I wish them well ‘is almost as “subtweety” an explanation as one might give about it, perhaps only by the wild humble-flex of “Maybe That Will Write Me Another Play”. For the record is Fishburne’s 1997 play Rapalje was adapted into a 2000 film that Fishburne directed Once in a lifetime, and for Fishburne to write a theatrical production in response to not casting in a film would be such a flex that all shirt sleeves would burst spontaneously in response.
Why should we not have Morpheus in a ha? Matrix 4? Technically, in the event of The Matrix Online, a 2005 MMORPG with an “official” storyline blessed by the Wachowskis, Morpheus is shot and killed. Maybe Lana Wachowski is interested in honoring that. Maybe her story, separate from all previous ones Matrixthe context, asks that Morpheus is not there. Or maybe it’s all in ruse. Maybe Fishburne will appear, in a sizable as camo role, as Morpheus, and they want it all to be kept a surprise. I think we will all find out when we take the fourth red pill on April 1, 2022.
For more on The Matrix 4, review Reeves’ reactions to the return.
