The “Matrix” franchise was more or less derailed by “The Matrix Resurrections,” and that’s when Drew Goddard was hired by Warner Bros. to revitalize the IP—a daunting task in itself.
Now, when asked by Variety about the current status of the script, Goddard is refusing to say much about it.
“I can’t say too much, because we’re still in the stage of writing it,” he explained to the trade. “I need to give myself space to find the best story. I think the approach will be the way I approach anything, which is, do I love it? And I love what Lana and Lilly Wachowski did with those movies. They mean so much to me, and I feel like they’ve had a profound impact on my creative voice. I take this responsibility very seriously. I feel the weight of wanting to do right by the fans, wanting to do right by the creators, and wanting to do right for myself as a fan.”
When asked whether Keanu Reeves and the original cast will return, Goddard refused to answer the question. “I can’t speak to that.”
What does that say? Goddard has been attached to this project since April 2024, he’s still in the writing stage, and he refuses to confirm whether he plans for the original cast to return.
Goddard is also defending the last installment, which was not well liked and bewildered many upon release with its meta approach. Asked why “The Matrix Resurrections” bombed at the box office, he said, “I don’t know. It certainly resonated with me. When I watched the movie, I was deeply moved. It may be the most emotional of the four. I know it got caught up in the COVID times, and it was when Warner Bros. was putting everything on streaming.”
“Resurrections” had a budget of nearly $200M and only managed to gross $159M worldwide, with many suspecting it lost Warner Bros. around $200M.
So that’s where things stand—“The Matrix 5” is still very much in development, and we’re not really sure when, or if, it will actually get off the ground. Is it a reboot? A continuation of the Reeves franchise? Who knows. Goddard is a talented screenwriter (“Cabin in the Woods”); maybe he’ll come up with something interesting.
I should warn you: based on everything I’ve heard, this teaser is a total misdirection. The movie is not at all what it’s being portrayed as here. In fact, most of the footage in the teaser comes from the first few minutes of the film.