Hugo Weaving isn’t back for Matrix 4 but suggests "a few others from the family" will return

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The Matrix 4 has already seen its fair share of comebacks: Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss will reprise their iconic roles as Neo and Trinity, respectively. Hugo Weaving, who has already confirmed he’s not going to be back as Agent Smith, has even hinted at the possibility of more returnees from the original trilogy.

“[Director] Lana [Wachowski] was very keen for me to be involved in The Matrix,” Weaving told Coming Soon (H/T Slash Film). “There was a reading with Keanu, Carrie and myself and a few others from the old family.”

Excusing the “old family” tease for a moment – just how did Weaving go from doing readthroughs with the main cast to dropping out the project?

No, it wasn’t a glitch in the matrix – scheduling conflicts cropped up, despite most of the details being agreed in advance according to Weaving.

“I thought we could have done my scenes in May, June and July; and we talked about money and we talked about — they were negotiating. And we were all pretty much sorted and agreed on dates and it was all fine, but then Lana decided she didn’t think it was going to work. So, she pulled the plug on the negotiations. That’s where it ended up. She basically didn’t feel that my commitment to the National Theatre was going to fit in with the dates that she had in mind for me.”

Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus hasn’t been mentioned in any reports, so maybe think a little smaller in terms of Matrix characters: Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe is already reportedly on board, while other characters returning from the dead could mean the net is cast even wider.

Half the fun of Matrix 4 is not knowing what’s going on and, despite not playing a part this time around, Hugo Weaving has only added to the mystery.