The Matrix Resurrections made some controversial story decisions with Morpheus, but there is another character the movie sadly shortchanged. In The Matrix Resurrections, Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a video game developer who slowly begins to remember that he is Neo and the world around him is a computer-generated facade known as the Matrix. After being awoken again by human freedom fighters led by Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and his old mentor Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Neo sets about trying to re-awaken his old love Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss).

The return of Morpheus in The Matrix Resurrections proved to be somewhat polarizing, with the character being re-imagined as an amalgam of the consciousness of Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus and Agent Smith. However, the character who really gets the short end of the stick in The Matrix Resurrections is the Kid (Clayton Watson), who previously appeared in The Animatrix, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions. The Kid is absent entirely from The Matrix Resurrections, but his previous appearances clearly show why he was deserving of a Matrix franchise comeback.

RELATED: The Matrix Resurrections Failed Its Best Human Vs. Machine Story

The Kid Should Be In The Matrix ResurrectionsThe Kid in The Animatrix pic

The Kid's importance to The Matrix franchise might not be as readily apparent as that of Neo or Morpheus, but it is still undeniable. As Neo's legend grows with more and more coming to see him as the prophesied One, the Kid is the most enthusiastic believer in Neo after his role in freeing the Kid from the Matrix. After Neo's victory over Agent Smith in The Matrix Revolutions, the Kid not only informs Zion of the war's end, but his jubilation at doing so shows how much his faith in Neo was central to the story.

The youth of the Kid would have made him an ideal character to return in The Matrix Resurrections as one who passed on the legend of Neo's victory to subsequent generations of humans. Even better, the Kid's inherent optimism would have made him the perfect character to balance the more jaded cynicism of Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith) in the 60 years after the end of the war. The Kid reuniting with Neo could also have been the emotional pinnacle of his journey, with Neo also seeing just how much of a difference he made in the Kid's life, especially in his life after The Matrix Revolutions.

What We Know About The Kid After The Matrix Trilogy

The Kid hides behind machinery in The Matrix

After Neo's apparent death in The Matrix Revolutions, the Kid becomes an apprentice of Morpheus, who trains him to bend the rules of the Matrix as he had previously done with Neo. The Matrix Online also sees the Kid forming a resistance group dubbed E Pluribus Neo, who continue the work of awakening humans who subconsciously desire to be freed from the Matrix. While the Kid's adventures have never been a major focus of the franchise, they would be ripe spin-off material to show the Kid's life in between The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections.

There is also the possibility of the Kid becoming a successor of sorts to Neo. With the Kid acting in a similar role as Neo once did through E Pluribus Neo, the history he could have brought to seeing the revived Neo in The Matrix Resurrections would have been every bit as impactful as Niobe's story. The craziest part of it all is that that very story could very well have been a part of The Matrix Resurrections.

RELATED: Why The Matrix Resurrections Was Too Meta For Its Own Good

Matrix 4 Cut The Kid Out... Twice!

The Matrix Revolutions The Kid pic

After The Matrix Revolutions, the Kid had originally been intended to return in a fourth Matrix movie alongside Niobe, though only the latter ultimately did return. Additionally, Clayton Watson also revealed in an interview that the Kid almost made a return of a different sort in the film through archive footage from Reloaded and Revolutions, but this too was ultimately cut. While the Kid only returning via archive footage might have been a somewhat underwhelming comeback, the effort being made adds to the disappointment that his return did not happen.

That is not to say that The Matrix Resurrections does not organically follow on the ending of Revolutions, and it most certainly puts a bow on the romantic relationship of Neo and Trinity. Nonetheless, the Kid's story of being inspired by Neo is an intrinsic part of his legacy as the One. While it is remains unclear exactly what the Kid's intended role in Resurrections would have been, including him would have rounded out the story more fully and The Matrix Resurrections not paying it off stand as a big missed opportunity.

More: Why Agent Smith Was The Key To Neo’s Prophecy In The Matrix