Although The Matrix Resurrections is officially billed as a sequel to the first Matrix film only, it simply cannot afford to ignore the sequels, no matter how bad they might be. Warner Bros.'s official synopsis of the film describes The Matrix Resurrections as "a continuation of the story established in the first Matrix film", indicating that there's no reason at all for fans to expect any elements from The Matrix Reloaded or The Matrix Revolutions to come into play in the upcoming sequel. While neither Reloaded nor Revolutions have ever been considered on a par with the original film, the decision is one that will undoubtedly prove jarring for many fans, meaning that the new Matrix sequel will face some unique challenges.

The first Matrix film saw Neo escape the titular simulation with the help of Morpheus and Trinity, emerging into the "real" world: a future in which machines have enslaved the remnants of humanity. Its two sequels, which rounded out the original Matrix trilogy, saw Neo and co. take the fight to the machines both inside the Matrix and in humanity's bleak future. The saga culminated in Neo's apparent death, sacrificing himself to save both human and machine civilization.

Related: Matrix 4 Theory: Trinity Is The One In Resurrections (Not Neo)

If Resurrections does indeed disregard the events of previous sequels, it could run the risk of under-mining previous world-building – placing the upcoming film in a particularly strange position among the wider franchise. Considering that, at the very least, the film will already need to explain how Neo and Trinity are back in the Matrix with no memory of one another, as well as why Morpheus has been recast, ignoring Reloaded and Revolutions will add an extra layer of unnecessary complexity. All this means that, simply put, Resurrections cannot afford to entirely disregard its predecessors.

Neo in The Matrix Reloaded

There are plenty of other barriers to the proposed retcon. For example, it has been announced that Jada Pinkett-Smith and Lambert Wilson will be reprising their respective roles as Niobe and The Merovingian, although both characters were absent from the first film, and were instead introduced in The Matrix Reloaded. How exactly Resurrections could bring back characters from films it proposes to ignore is entirely unknown, especially considering that the characters were absent from the Resurrections trailer.

Despite the potential problems, however, this move has actually been achieved with moderate success by other franchises. Notable legacy sequels to pick and choose which films to treat as canon include 2018's Halloween and Terminator: Dark Fate, which followed on from Terminator 2: Judgement Day. However, a crucial difference between these films and Resurrection is that the Matrix franchise isn't a long-running series with plenty of sequels and a confusing timeline. Instead, ignoring two out of three previous films could actually further muddy the Matrix universe, rather than make it more straightforward.

While Reloaded and Revelations aren't the most beloved sequels, they do introduce many key elements to the franchise and offer a lot of character development for Neo, in particular, that will be hard for Resurrections to ignore. Neo already looks different this time around, though, which is perhaps a further indication that The Matrix Resurrections will be a significant departure from the world set out in the original trilogy. Either way, it's clear that completely ignoring two-thirds of the original trilogy will make things much more complicated than they need to be.

Next: Why Matrix 4 Director Was Inspired To Resurrect Neo & Trinity

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