Matrix 4 - How Will Keanu Reeves' Character Neo Return?

How will Neo make his appearance in the fourth movie of The Matrix?

The Matrix was one of the most innovative movies ever filmed and released and the fact the film is so beloved and celebrated shows the power of the characters and the story of The Matrix. Even though the critics panned the final two movies, and fans showed their disapproval at the box office when the final film only made $427.3 million compared to the record-breaking gross of the second movie.

The last two movies were disappointing, but fans still wanted the film there to be the fourth film because many storylines were unfinished and there was just so much story left to tell. The fourth movie never materialized, the Wachowski sisters moved on to other projects, and the idea for the fourth movie just died after Warner Bros. showed no interest to go back to the franchise.

Source: The Indian Express

As we know, 2019 is the year of Keanu, and he is unstoppable this year, with almost $1.4 billion at the box office and the fans going crazy about everything he does. The stock of Keanu Reeves was never this higher, and it was all thanks to the John Wick franchise which utilized the steely persona of Keanu to full effect and created one of the most sympathetic hitmen in the world. Just imagine for a second, John Wick killed almost 300 people in the span of almost a week; now think of the reason what triggered all those people’s death, a dog. John Wick killed 300 people in the span of a week, and we love him for it.

This showed how much love people shower Keanu with which made this the perfect time for any other studio to capitalize on the pull of Keanu. Marvel tried, Kevin Feige said they were trying to get Keanu for any and every role and they were still negotiating. But Warner Bros. got lucky and they fast-tracked a fourth Matrix movie. It was confirmed last month; a fourth Matrix movie is coming with production set for 2020 and release being eyed for 2021.

Source: VGA News

We also got confirmation Keanu Reeves is returning along with Carrie-Anne Moss for the fourth movie, and it got us thinking, considering how the final film ended, how is Keanu going to come back for a fourth movie.

In the third movie, as we were reaching the end, 'Neo' interrogates Bane, and the Logos is fully functioning again. Neo wants to go to the Machine City, and after what the Oracle showed Niobe she decides to give up her ship. Neo leaves to go to the Machine City, and Trinity accompanies him, but 'Bane' gets on the ship secretly as well. After Neo realizes Bane is just a body, but there is 'Smith' inside the body, they fight and Neo get blinded by Bane which causes Neo to see the whole world as golden lights and using his power, kills Bane.

Watch: Neo and Bane fight on the Logos

Before reaching the Machine City the machines bombard the Logos and Trinity is injured, Neo enters the City alone and tells the Deus Ex Machina, the leader of the machines, Smith is going to take over both the Matrix and the real world and asks to be plugged into the Matrix one more time to defeat Smith and in return the machine will leave the people alone. The machine agrees, and the attack on Zion is stopped, then Neo goes back into the Matrix to face Smith, who now possesses the power of the 'Oracle'.

Smith is too powerful, so Neo decides the only way to win is to let himself be assimilated with Smith, and the machine sends a powerful surge into the body of Neo which in turn makes Smith-Neo clone and all the other replicas of Smith to explode. Inside the Matrix, the 'Architect' comes to a meeting with the Oracle and they talk about peace between humans and machines. The Architect tells the Oracle the machine will give humans the choice of staying in the machine or getting out of the Matrix and in the real world we see the machine taking an injured Neo away after his battle with Smith.

Watch: The Oracle and The Architect meet at the end of the third Matrix movie

The Architect doesn’t tell the Oracle, Neo is alive, and seeing him explode inside the Matrix most likely made most of the people think Neo was dead. Sati tells the Oracle she made a sunrise in honor of Neo and Oracle tells her they might see the One again in the future. There is no confirmation Neo is alive, so it is most likely possible Neo was kept on the surface with the machines. The only person capable of destroying the machine cannot be allowed to return to the humans, which was probably the reason why Architect did not reveal they got Neo.

Since almost 17 years passed since the final Matrix movie, it is entirely possible the actors will play older characters of themselves, and there will be a time-lapse between the third and the fourth movie which means we are getting an older Neo. He is most probably a captive of the Machine and 'Trinity' figures out he is still alive and tries to get him back. The Architect asked how long the peace would last and the Oracle said the peace between the two groups would last “as long as it can.” No matter how much they say they want to respect the peace, humans will always be uncomfortable with the machines, and the machines will be uncomfortable with humans.

Source: Twitter

When two alphas are occupying the same space, there is going to be conflict and Neo’s escape may be the anchor point of the fourth movie. The thing we would like to see though is a disillusioned Neo fighting against the people for the Matrix and against the humans. It is not going to happen, and it would be a cheesy narrative flip, but it would be interesting to see Keanu play the villain instead of the One.

The most likely possibility of the movie is probably going to center around the rescue of Neo if he wasn’t returned to the humans already. Whatever the case, we are more than excited for a fourth Matrix movie, and what it entails for the future of The Matrix franchise.