Remember that last Matrix movie? The one about capital subsuming all critique, turning it into a trendy and infinitely exploitable set of meaningless images and signifiers divorced from their original context? How it laments the way the culture industry can’t let a good thing lie, instead pounding every last inch of profit out of any marketable property until there’s nothing left but a tasteless grey mush?
That was cool. Anyway, they’re making another Matrix movie.
Per Variety, The Matrix 5 (which will surely become The Matrix: R-something at some point during production) will be the first entry in the series without one of the Wachowski sisters directing. Instead, it’ll be helmed by Drew Goddard, the screenwriter behind The Martian. Goddard will also write the script and produce the film alongside Sarah Esberg, who also served as producer (IMDb tells me) on the quite excellent Moonlight.
And, well, those are all the substantive names you’re getting. Lana Wachowski is kind of involved, but only in the sense that she’s going to get an executive producer credit, which I’m pretty sure is basically what Hollywood calls the process of paying someone to be able to put their name in the credits. Aside from that, we’ve got no idea if Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, or any of the new characters from The Matrix: Resurrections will be returning.
Because I am a circus and my heart is the clown, I maintain hope that this film will do justice to its storied legacy. To be fair to Goddard, he’s saying a lot of generally agreeable words about it: “It is not hyperbole to say The Matrix films changed both cinema and my life,” he said, adding that the Wachowskis’ “exquisite artistry inspires me on a daily basis, and I am beyond grateful for the chance to tell stories in their world.”
Meanwhile, Warner Bros exec Jesse Ehrman said that the film is only happening because Goddard “came to Warner Bros with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world.” Which is, frankly, a little hard to believe given everything that was said and done in the previous Matrix film.