‘The Matrix’ Returns With a New Sequel

We’re going back to The Matrix. Warner Bros. has officially announced a new sequel in the game-changing sci-fi franchise, from the writer of The Martian.

On the heels of the 1999 film’s 25th anniversary, Warner Bros. has announced a sequel to The Matrix (via Variety), Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s groundbreaking sci-fi masterpiece. The fifth installment in the franchise will be directed by Drew Goddard, screenwriter of The Cabin in the Woods and The Martian, and director of Bad Times at the El Royale. Goddard has an impressive genre-heavy filmography that includes writing credits on Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and 2008’s Cloverfield. He also created Netflix’s Daredevil and was an executive producer on The Good Place, for which he directed four episodes.

According to the announcement, Goddard is writing the screenplay for the fifth Matrix film, which he’ll executive produce alongside Sarah Esberg and Lana Wachowski, who returned to direct 2021’s The Matrix: Resurrections without Lilly Wachowski. Warner Bros. hasn’t revealed any additional details about the sequel, including the plotline and the cast. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss returned for Resurrections, which also starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas.

“Drew came to Warner Bros. with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters,” Warner Bros. Motion Pictures president of production Jesse Ehrman said in a statement. “The entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making this new Matrix film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis’ spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.”

(featured image: Warner Bros.)