The New ‘The Matrix’ Won’t Be a Reboot or a Remake

The news came late last week that Warner Bros. was, according to Hollywood Reporter, planning to “relaunch” the blockbuster movie franchise The Matrix, and the reaction wasn’t wholly positive. Cries of “too soon” and “How dare they?!” could easily be found on social media, even though Warner Bros. hadn’t touched the series in well over a decade, making it practically a relic by contemporary standards.

Fortunately for the the naysayers, some good news came from screenwriter Zak Penn (Pacific Rim: Uprising), with whom Warner Bros. is in talks to write the next The Matrix movie. Penn took to his Twitter account to respond to the news story, and although he couldn’t yet make any direct statements about his involvement or the storyline being planned, he did tacitly confirm that plans are underway and that he’s involved enough to comment.

“All I can say at this point is no one could or should REBOOT the Matrix. People who know Animatrix and the comics understand,“ Zak Penn tweeted. “Can’t comment yet except to say that the words ‘reboot’ and ‘remake’ were from an article. Let’s stop responding to inaccurate news.”

After arguing that the original The Matrix shouldn’t be rebooted because “You can’t do better,” Zak Penn left the following hints: “Do I want to see more stories set in the universe of the matrix? Yes. Because it’s a brilliant idea that generates great stories” and “Look at what people are doing with Xmen universe. Between Logan and Legion and Deadpool, does anyone want them to stop? Not me.”

Also: Eight Unpopular Movies You Would’ve LOVED in the 1980s

Using the backdrop of The Matrix to tell new stories is nothing new. The Wachowskis came up with the idea themselves, releasing the anthology movie The Animatrix back in 2003. The film featured nine animated shorts that introduced new characters and ideas to the franchise, and finally explained in detail how the machines rose to power and came to conquer the planet Earth, leaving the human race imprisoned inside the virtual reality that is “The Matrix.”

Along those lines, Birth Movies Death now claims that one of the ideas that Warner Bros. is seriously considering is a prequel about Morpheus, the revolutionary leader played by Laurence Fishburne in the original The Matrix trilogy, that might star Michael B. Jordan (Creed). It’s a logical step for the franchise to take, following an existing character as opposed to introducing a whole new focal point for the series, but it is – of course – just a rumor for now.

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Top Photo: Warner Bros.

William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.