Matrix 4 fan theory reveals how franchise could get around Neo and Trinity’s deaths and age jump

Fourth instalment will be released almost 18 years after trilogy wrapped up

A Matrix fan has unveiled two theories as to how the franchise could get around major obstacles when it returns for a fourth instalment.

The Matrix 4 will be released in May 2021, almost 18 years after the final film in the original trilogy.

This means that co-writers Lana Wachowski, Aleksandar Hemon​, and David Mitchell will need to account for two key elements: Neo and Trinity are left for dead at the end of The Matrix Revolutions, the third chapter, and the people who play them – Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss – have aged by 17 years (The Matrix 4 is filming now).

One easy way to solve those problems would be to go the “retcon” way – “retcon” stands for ”retroactive continuity” and, in fiction, consists in offering a different take on events that have been previously told (for example, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once made it look like Sherlock Holmes had died in The Final Problem, before presenting a different narrative in which the detective was alive).

But some would consider this strategy an easy way out, which is why Reddit user Dinguschungus went a step further and figured out two other ways to tell a fourth Matrix story.

The first one would be to have The Matrix 4 take place outside of the Matrix, before the humans lost the war to the machines.

“This storyline would work because it would canonise the idea of individual people being repeated throughout the Matrix system, would allow for Neo and Trinity to be alive, and it could account for the jump upwards in age from the first three movies,” the Reddit user wrote. “...It would also provide a great tragic ending because, no matter how close Neo and Trinity get to winning, the fact that they are born into the Matrix years later (aka in the original movies) proves that they lose. No matter what they do, they’re going to lose.”

The second theory would involve setting The Matrix 4 within the Matrix, but having it focus on different versions of Trinity and Neo.

“This could be a Neo and Trinity who existed at a different point in the Matrix’s timeline ...and grew to middle age before finding out about the Matrix,” the Reddit user wrote. ”This option feels less rich to me because it lacks a lot of what the first one brings but it could also allow us to explore these characters plus the Matrix in a brand new light.”