Laurence Fishburne isn’t ruling out a return to the world of The Matrixhowever he’s not signing on simply but, both.
During a reunion panel at New York Comic Con 2025, the actor addressed whether or not he would reprise his iconic function as Morpheus within the upcoming fifth installment of the franchise, which is now being developed with out the unique administrators, Lana and Lily Wachowski, on the helm.
“It depends on how good it is, really,” Fishburne instructed the viewers, drawing cheers, per Variety. “If it’s great, then yeah, if it makes sense. I don’t know if it makes sense.”
His feedback come after final yr’s information that The Martian screenwriter Drew Goddard has been tapped to write down and direct a brand new Matrix movie for Warner Bros., marking the franchise’s first main installment not led by the Wachowskis. Lana Wachowski will reportedly function an govt producer, however Fishburne hasn’t but been approached to return.
The hesitation is comprehensible given his absence from 2021’s The Matrix Resurrectionsregardless of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss returning. Fishburne revealed through the panel that he really reached out to Lana Wachowski about becoming a member of that movie, however was in the end not invited again.
“I reached out,” Fishburne stated. “It just didn’t pan out. I said, ‘Thank you very much,’ and Lana said, ‘Thank you very much, I’ll think about it,’ and that was that.”
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II went on to painting a brand new model of Morpheus in Resurrections, a transfer that stunned long-time followers of the sequence. Fishburne has beforehand stated he was by no means requested to return and has saved a measured, skilled tone every time discussing the choice.
Fishburne additionally mentioned the enduring cultural affect of The Matrix, greater than 20 years after its 1999 premiere, through the NYCC panel moderated by Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz.
“There’s no movie that comes after The Matrix that’s a sci-fi action or fantasy movie that’s not been influenced by it,” Fishburne stated. “It’s everywhere. It’s so pervasive you almost forget where it came from at this point. Now, people don’t realize, but no Matrix, no MCU. It [just] doesn’t look the same.”