It was recently announced that Warner Bros. was in the early stages of developing some sort of reboot of The Matrix franchise. A writer has already been assigned to work up a treatment and it was said that the studio is already eyeing none other than Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther) to star. According to the report, neither creators The Wachowskis nor producer Joel Silver are involved with the project yet. That, my friends, is all we knew.
Speculation instantly ran rampant all over the internet. Will it be The Matrix 4? Would it be a prequel of some sort? Is it going to be a flat out remake of the 1999 original? Any and all ideas were pummeled into the ground repeatedly as fans and journalists spitballed all of the various possibilities. The aforementioned writer, Zak Penn, eventually chimed in and stated that it would not be a remake, so that took one option off of the table, but things remained mostly unclear. What exactly is Warner Bros. wanting to do with this property?
It turns out that they might be giving as a prequel about the early years of Laurence Fishburne’s character, Morpheus. Many initially assumed that Michael B. Jordan was being sought after to play Neo in a remake. After all, the Wachowskis originally envisioned Will Smith in that role when they were crafting the film, so swapping the character’s race would fit their initial idea. According to Birth.Movies.Death., however, the studio is eyeing Jordan to play a young Morpheus.
You know? That’s not a bad idea at all. Some fans crave a live action prequel about the machine war, but that material was already covered relatively well in the animated spin-off, The Animatrix. As for any lingering ideas that the Wachowskis had about events during or after the emergence of Neo, they poured all of that into the MMORPG game The Matrix Online. I wouldn’t put it past Warner Bros. to consider retreading (or retconning) any of that stuff, but the wise move would be to go in a different direction. One that sets a story in motion that can roll around in the more beloved aspects of the franchise without feeling too repetitive. Doing a film about the early years of Morpheus would absolutely achieve that.
By giving us a Morpheus-centric prequel (or prequel trilogy), the studio will be able to dish out a follow-up that is still set within the mind and reality-bending construct of the Matrix itself. They can do some action outside of the Matrix as well, but I suspect we’ll see a lot of bullet time, near-flying, wild wirework battles, and all kinds of other craziness going on for the majority of its running time. That and plenty of agents to battle. That’s the stuff that most fans seem to take to the most and I have little doubt that it is exactly what the studio wants this reboot to be filled with.
The course that this revival takes could ultimately changed, of course. After all, this project is still in the earliest stages of development. It’s simply too early to know exactly what it will be, especially since it lacks a completed film treatment, let alone the first draft of a screenplay. As more talent piles onto the project, such as producers, other writers, and a director, it will continue to alter what the eventual film will become. There’s also the matter of whether or not The Wachowskis want to be involved in any capacity. If so, what will they bring to the table? If not, how will this return grow beyond their original ideas?
Bottom line, this is probably not only the safest direction for this reboot to take, but also one of the better ideas. At least in terms of what the general populace views The Matrix to be as a franchise. So, for now, I’m kind of excited to see what will come of all of this. How about you?
