Neil Patrick Harris
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Neil Patrick Harris has joined the cast of ‘The Matrix 4’.  His role is unrevealed.

He joins Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, who starred in the original film trilogy, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who was announced as joining the cast last week.  Although it is not confirmed, it is believed that Abdul-Mateen is playing a younger version of Laurence Fishburn’s Morpheus.  (Fishburn has not been announced as returning.)  It is also rumored that the film may include younger versions of Neo (Reeves) and Trinity (Moss).

The original movies– ‘The Matrix’ (1999), ‘The Matrix Reloaded’ (2003), and ‘Matrix Revolutions’ (2003)– have grossed $1.6 billion worldwide.  The original movies were written and directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski.  Lilly is not involved with the new movie, but Lana co-wrote the screenplay, with Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell, and will direct.  Like the original trilogy, the new sequel hails from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures.  Terry Needham is executive producing.  Wachowski is producing, along with Grant Hill and Joel Silver.  Silver also produced the originals.

The first ‘Matrix’ won for technical Academy Awards for Editing, Sound, Sound Editing, and Visual Effects.

Harris is best known for TV work, but he has appeared in several films, most recently the sci-fi fantasy ‘Downsizing’.  Past films have included ‘Gone Girl’, ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’, ‘Starship Troopers’, and perhaps most memorably in the ‘Harold and Kumar’ franchise.  Harris was a child TV star, as the lead on ‘Doogie Howser MD’.  He is also well-known as part of the ensemble cast of ‘How I Met Your Mother’.  Most recently, he starred on Netflix’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’.

This marks Harris’ first role in what could be a major tentpole franchise picture.

‘The Matrix 4’ is expected to begin production next year.  It isn’t expected to arrive in theaters until 2022, although an exact date hasn’t been scheduled.

Source: Variety