After Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) triumphantly leap from a building (a stunt the actors actually performed) and fly off into the horizon at the end of “The Matrix Resurrections,” you wouldn’t be wrong to start speculating about a sequel. And with studio IP recycling at lightspeed rates these days, another entry in the Wachowskis’ cyber-punk franchise might seem like an inevitability. Not so fast. In a recent interview with Collider, producer James McTeigue revealed that, for now, the “Matrix” team (which included director Lana flying solo this time without her sister Lilly) has no plans to develop further movies. “Look, for us, I think, at the moment, it’s just the movie you’ve seen. We’ve got no prequel in mind. We’ve got no sequel in mind. We’ve got no further trilogy,” McTeigue said.
Still, he added that there’s enough left for interpretation by the end of the movie (which turns the three preceding films inside out with new characters and wall-to-wall meta trickery) that someone else could potentially take over the story. After all, a fourth “Matrix” movie was going to happen at Warner Bros. with or without Lana Wachowski. “But I think the film also works where it’s really open to audience interpretation, like what happened in those 60 years before they fished Neo out again, or Thomas Anderson to Neo. When Neo and Trinity are there at the end, and they’re talking with the analyst, what do they actually mean that they’re going to change? So I think that it’s out there, but it’s not in our wheelhouse at the moment,” he said. McTeigue added that when it comes to greenlighting a sequel, “There’s always the financial part of it. There’s always the filmmakers who want to make the films, and there’s always the studios or the streamers who have the money to facilitate that. So yeah. It’s always a business equation as much as it is a creative equation.” “Resurrections” has now grossed $106 million worldwide, and plays on HBO Max through January 21 as the final film of Warner Bros.’ 2021 slate to do so. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
