Laurence Fishburne is revealing why he did not return as Morpheus for “The Matrix Resurrections,” and it turns out, it wasn’t Fishburne’s decision to be excluded from the 2021 franchise installment.
Fishburne said during “The View” (via THR) that he was turned away from the project. Fishburne did not disclose which team member disagreed with his casting. Lana Wachowski solo directed the fourth film, which was a Warner Bros. release. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss were both back as franchise protagonists Neo and Trinity, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II took over as a different iteration of Morpheus, the character originated by Fishburne in 1999.
“I offered my services to the fourth ‘Matrix,’ and they didn’t respond well to that,” Fishburne said while on “The View.” “It’s not like I didn’t say, ‘I’d like to offer my services.’ I did.” He added that “for whatever reason,” his casting in the 2021 sequel “didn’t happen.”
As for whether he would return for the fifth “Matrix” film which is in the works, Fishburne said it would “depend on the circumstances” of who was involved. “It depends on who was involved, how well the script has been written,” he said.
The fifth “Matrix” film will be directed, written, and produced by “The Cabin in the Woods” filmmaker Drew Goddard. Lana Wachowski will executive produce. “Drew came to Warner Bros. with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the ‘Matrix’ world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25-years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters,” Jesse Ehrman, Warner Bros. Motion Pictures President of Production, said in a 2024 press statement. “The entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making this new ‘Matrix’ film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis’ spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.”
Goddard, who previously penned “Cloverfield” and “World War Z,” added, “It is not hyperbole to say ‘The Matrix’ films changed both cinema and my life. Lana and Lilly’s exquisite artistry inspires me on a daily basis, and I am beyond grateful for the chance to tell stories in their world.”
Casting has not been announced.
Fishburne previously told New York Magazine in 2020 that he wasn’t “invited” to star in “The Matrix Resurrections” despite being in the three former films. “That’s the truth,” Fishburne said at the time.
Meanwhile, Fishburne has collaborated with his “The Matrix” co-star Reeves across another franchise: “John Wick.” It remains to be seen if Fishburne is confirmed for “John Wick: Chapter 5,” but given that his character was in the final shot of the fourth feature, he most likely will be in the fifth too.
