The upcoming sequel to “The Matrix” will be without one of the original stars as Laurence Fishburne has confirmed he was not invited back…
Morpheus has left the building.
Laurence Fishburne — who portrayed the tech savvy leader in all three of “The Matrix” movies — has confirmed that he won’t be appearing in the upcoming sequel, which will reunite original cast members Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss with director Lana Wachowski in the new film.
According to Fishburne, it wasn’t a matter of bad timing or his own unwillingness to appear in the sequel — he simply was not asked join the cast.
“I have not been invited,” Fishburne told New York magazine recently. “Maybe that will make me write another play. I wish them well. I hope it’s great.”
There’s no word why Fishburne won’t be returning as Morpheus but there are a lot of unanswered questions about “The Matrix” sequel when the final film in the original trilogy “The Matrix Revolutions” seemingly brought the series to an end.
Now a new sequel is coming together with Reeves and Moss returning from the original cast along with Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Priyanka Chopra Jonas appearing in “The Matrix 4” as well.
Filming on the movie was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic but production recently got started again in Berlin, Germany.
“It’s a great honor and I’m very grateful to be working,” Reeves told the Associated Press. “There’s some really thoughtful, effective protocols in place and the rhythm of filmmaking has not really been impacted or interrupted. I think everyone loves the project.
“If you’re ever going to get into any kind of situation that needs to be figured out or ‘how do we do this?’ show business people are the best. We’re scrappy, we know how to get stuff done, we’re inventive, we think on our feet.”
Originally, “The Matrix” sequel was expected to be released in 2021 but due to the delays in production, the movie is now expected to land in theaters — or wherever movies are going to be released — in 2022.
