Looks like they might not be taking the blue pill after all. According to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum director and The Matrix stunt performer Chad Stahelski, Lilly and Lana Wachowski are indeed returning to their groundbreaking franchise to work on a new Matrix project.
The stunt performer-turned-filmmaker told Yahoo Movies that the Wachowskis are working on a new Matrix project — though he didn’t specify what that meant, and he didn’t know if either of them would be directing. We reached out to Warner Bros. for comment but had not heard back at time of writing.
“I’m super happy that the Wachowskis are not just doing a Matrix, but they’re expanding what we all loved,” Stahelski said. “If it’s anywhere near the level of what they’ve already done, it wouldn’t take more than a call to go, ‘Hey, we want you to be a stunt guy’ and I would probably go and get hit by a car.”
It’s unclear whether this potential project is connected to the reported reboot of the franchise we heard about in 2017, which at the time mentioned the possible involvement of screenwriter Zak Penn and actor Michael B. Jordan.
The Wachowskis weren’t said to have been involved and many fans felt that was an odd decision — so if this recent rumour is true, opinions on expanding the universe would likely be more positive. And that goes for star Keanu Reeves as well
Reeves previously said he wouldn’t consider returning for a Matrix project without the original creators involved, so Yahoo Movies followed up Stahelski’s news by asking the actor whether this revelation meant he would consider coming back as well. “That would be a gift,” he said. “I wouldn’t say no to that.”
Reeves also commented on what it would be like to return to Neo, 20 years after playing the guy who learned kung fu.
“I think when you get to revisit a story and continue to tell a story, you’re bringing in the past and the work that you’ve done,” Reeves said. “For me, it’s about placing the emotional state of where you are into who the character is. How do they feel? How do they think? And then putting on the suit if the costume really becomes the exterior that you fill in.”
Stahelski’s representative told /Film that Yahoo Movie’s report was inaccurate, and that Stahelski was responding to a hypothetical scenario that had been posed, one where the Wachowskis were involved in the project.
We has read through the transcript of the interview, and the discussion presented does not appear to match the representative’s description. You can read the full Q&A for yourself at the bottom of Yahoo’s article here.
Zak Penn had this to say:
I can’t comment on #matrix yet except to say it’s all possible. And I’m excited. But it’s Hollywood so don’t believe it til the cameras roll
— Zak Penn (@zakpenn) May 10, 2019
As John Wick’s recent trailer reminded us, The Matrix is never far from our minds.