The Matrix 4 is named as The Matrix Resurrections

The fourth Matrix movie has debuted its first segments of footage at the 2021 CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where the title was confirmed as The Matrix Resurrections.

The title clearly refers to the presence of Keanu Reeves’ Neo and Carrie-Ann Moss’ Trinity. Both characters feature in the latest Matrix instalment, despite the fact that both of them died in the third and most recent Matrix movie, Revolutions (released in 2003).

The Hollywood Reporter's Aaron Crouch tweeted: “Folks, I don't even know where to begin with The Matrix. Wow! It's called The Matrix: Resurrections. “Thomas Anderson is in therapy, having forgotten The Matrix. He meets Trinity at a coffee shop. Neither remembers one another...”

Already, we have questions, namely: how does one end up in therapy if one is already deceased? And is the therapy session real or an artificial simulation? Here’s hoping that the new movie can make our heads spin deliriously like the original, masterful Matrix that was released in 1999.

Melding philosophical conceits with an aesthetic that meshed kung-fu and end-of-the-millennium paranoia, The Matrix changed the game for late-nineties blockbusters. It introduced us to Reeves’ hacker-turned-human-saviour Neo aka The One, the person destined to destroy the computer simulation known as the Matrix. The programme keeps the human race blissfully unaware that they are being used as batteries to power the bleak, post-apocalyptic world of the machines. Moss’ Trinity is one of several rebels aiding Neo in his fight, and their group is led by Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus.

The movie won an Oscar for its visual effects, exemplified by the slow-motion ‘bullet time’ movement. Sadly, the sequels, Reloaded and Revolutions (both released in 2003), failed to live up the original, drowning in a surfeit of portent and chaotic visuals. Here’s hoping that the new movie can wash that bad aftertaste away. Whereas the previous films were directed by the Wachowski siblings, Lana and Lilly, the next film will be helmed by Lana solo.

"We're out here trying to make some magic,” Reeves said of the film. “We have a wonderful director, Lana Wachowski, and she has written a beautiful script that is a love story. It's inspiring. It’s another version of a kind of, call to wake up. It entertains... It has some great action. All will be revealed.”

Although the status of Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus is unclear in the fourth film, it’s expected that Jada Pinkett Smith will return as Niobe, alongside Lambert Wilson as The Merovingian and Daniel Bernhardt as Agent Johnson.

Franchise newcomers include Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Toby Onwumere, Priyanka Chopra, Ellen Hollman and Christina Ricci.

The Matrix Resurrections is scheduled for release on 22nd December 2021.