It is official: Hugo Weaving will not be in ‘The Matrix 4’. The actor is about to kick off a run in the National Theatre’s production of ‘The Visit’ on stage, opposite Lesley Manville, which unfortunately forced him out. That show will run from January 31-May 13, which is apparently when the new sequel will film.
As he explained to London’s Time Out:
“The Matrix is a very different story. It’s unfortunate but actually, I had this offer [for The Visit] and then the offer came from The Matrix, so I knew it was happening but I didn’t have dates. I thought [I] could do both and it took eight weeks to work out that the dates would work – I held off on accepting [a role in The Visit during that time]. I was in touch with [director] Lana Wachowski, but in the end, she decided that the dates weren’t going to work. So we’d sorted the dates and then she sort of changed her mind. They’re pushing on ahead without me.”
Considering how major a presence Weaving had in the original movies, it’s odd that he could be written out of the fourth so easily. That would seem to indicate that Wachowski didn’t plan to use him very much, to begin with.
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The only other actor from all three of the original ‘Matrix’ movies that have not been confirmed for the upcoming film is Laurence Fishburn, a.k.a. Morpheus. Keanu Reeves (Neo), Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity), and Jada Pinkett Smith (Niobe) are all signed on.
Joining them are newcomers Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, Eréndira Ibarra, and Toby Onwumere. Though nothing has been confirmed, there are rumors that Abdul-Mateen is playing a younger version of Morpheus, and that Henwick is playing a new hero, in the vein of Neo.
‘The Matrix 4’ is set to hit theaters on May 21, 2021.
