The Matrix reboot won't be a reboot or remake at all, says its screenwriter

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The internet went nuclear earlier this week when word came out that Warner Bros. is rebooting The Matrix, the innovative, iconic 1999 sci-fi thriller from the Wachowski siblings. But before you light your torches, gather a mob of fellow fans, and storm the front gates of the studio lot, writer Zak Penn - who’s been tasked with writing the new film - has some things to tell us:

Sounds like Penn (who has a story credit on 2012’s The Avengers) shares some of the same thoughts as many die-hard fans of the original trilogy, aligning fairly well with one of our own suggestions for what we’d like to see in a new Matrix film. It’s nice to hear that he’s at least aware of the public perception of the new movie, and these tweets indicate pretty clearly to me that if Penn isn’t overruled by the studio, he’d prefer to explore a different corner of the world we saw in the 1999 movie. His shout-out to the Animatrix is particularly promising, considering how those took place in the same universe but didn’t center on any of the movie’s main characters.

As of right now, the Wachowskis aren’t involved with the project and neither is original star Keanu Reeves, though Michael B. Jordan’s name has been floated as a potential leading man for the new movie. While I think Jordan would actually make a pretty good young Morpheus if need be, here’s hoping that the studio allows Penn to do something a little more creative with this story and capitalize on the untapped potential of the Wachowskis’ terrific original concept.

Image: Warner Bros.

Ben Pearson
Ben Pearson
Ben is an entertainment journalist who has written about movies online for nearly a decade. He loves the Fast & Furious franchise, prefers Indiana Jones to Star Wars, and will defend the ending of Lost until his dying day. He shook Bill Murray's hand once (so he's got that going for him, which is nice). Ben lives in Los Angeles with his wife.