The Matrix Resurrections revisited Morpheus and Agent Smith despite Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving not returning for the sequel, but the film’s recast trick worked much better for Morpheus than it did for Smith. After years of potential Matrix reboots and remakes being discussed, Matrix 4 went from a distant possibility to reality once Lana Wachowski signed on to direct the sequel that would also see the returns of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss. While the returns of Neo and Trinity made sure that Matrix 4 could be a true Matrix sequel, the abscesses of Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving were always going to pose a difficult challenge for the film.
Although both of those absences would be equally felt, the reasons why Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving did not return for The Matrix Resurrections are different. Morpheus died in The Matrix Online, a game that is part of the “Matrix Expanded Universe” and is considered Matrix canon. Therefore, Morpheus' death could not be ignored in The Matrix Resurrections. As for Agent Smith, Hugo Weaving could not return for The Matrix Resurrections due to scheduling conflicts.
That difference as to why the original Morpheus and Smith were not in The Matrix Resurrections helps explain why the film’s Morpheus recast trick worked better than the Smith one. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was not exactly playing Morpheus but rather a program created from Neo’s experiences whose purpose was to find and guide Neo out of the Matrix once again. In fact, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s character also had a bit of Agent Smith in him as seen in The Matrix Resurrections’ opening scene. Both Morpheus and Smith had been incredibly important to Neo’s journey, and the memories Neo had of them were now being uploaded into this new program. Essentially, Morpheus was never recast for Resurrections – Yahya Abdul-Mateen II played an entirely different character. For Smith, however, the character seen in Resurrections is very much the same as Hugo Weaving played in the original Matrix trilogy. There isn’t any catch to Smith looking and sounding so different other than the program choosing a new physical manifestation within the Matrix, which makes Agent Smith's recast far less subtle than what was done with Morpheus. That is why Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a new Morpheus works better than Jonathan Groff as a recast Agent Smith.
Why Resurrections’ Agent Smith Doesn’t Work
Jonathan Groff’s performance as Agent Smith in The Matrix Resurrections was on point, but the fact that the only reason why Smith had to look different in the film was that Hugo Weaving couldn’t return lessened the impact of this reinvented version of the character. Whereas The Matrix Resurrections’ opening sequence made it clear that there was more to the new Morpheus than just a simple recast, Agent Smith’s role in Resurrections asked audiences to believe that Jonathan Groff was playing the same character Hugo Weaving did. The result is an uncanny valley effect that gets in the way of Jonathan Groff’s inspired performance.
Morpheus and Agent Smith are two of the Matrix franchise’s pillars along with Neo and Trinity. The fact that Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss returned for The Matrix Resurrections made Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving’s absences even more noticeable. Respecting the Matrix canon and avoiding a traditional recast were both right decisions, but Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s new Morpheus ended up working better than Jonathan Groff’s "recast Smith."