When The Matrix came out in 1999, we were asked a question: red pill or blue pill? The idea being that the blue pill would keep us in the dark about the world we live in while the red pill would open up the truth. It has since become a cultural phenomenon, one that conservatives have also tried to latch on to (much to the hatred of the movie’s creators), but it is still a testament to how incredible this movie was.
Now, over 20 years later, we’re finally getting our first look at the fourth film in the franchise. The Matrix Resurrections has a world filled with blue pill takers, and one of them seems to be Thomas Anderson once again.
The Matrix Resurrections trailer threw us right back into the world of Keanu Reeves’ Neo—well, sort of. The last we saw of the Matrix, there was supposedly peace between the humans and the machines, and we thought we’d said goodbye to Neo. But as we see in the first trailer for the new sequel, Neo is back, but he isn’t the Neo we knew by the end. He’s back to being Thomas Anderson.
We’re confronted with a world where “Thomas” continually takes the blue pill, keeping him in the dark about the “real” world, just as he was in the first film before Morpheus gave him the choice to awaken to his life with the red pill. So does that mean that this is Neo prior to plugging into the Matrix? Especially with fan speculation that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is playing a younger version of Morpheus? Or at least someone who will offer the truth to “Thomas.”
The full trailer though gives us a look at Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, and, of course, the badass herself: Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity once again.
When Trinity and Neo touch hands, she asks him if they know each other, and with Neo constantly saying that he keeps dreaming of this world being different from what he knows, it seems as if his memories are breaking through into this blue pill world that he has found himself in once again.
So how does this all play into the world we already know of the Matrix? I think that Neo is going to have to be reminded of his place in the world with a red pill and unpack everything that happened to him throughout the original trilogy. Honestly, if this movie were just Jessica Henwick with blue hair leading Keanu Reeves around the entire time, I’d be okay with that. Bonus points if he balances the rubber duck on his head while following her.
Merry Christmas! We get to celebrate by throwing ourselves back into the Matrix, and honestly, I’m ready to revisit the world that the Wachowski sisters gave to us all. Just maybe don’t keep taking the blue pills?
(image: Warner Bros.)
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