The Matrix 5 is moving ahead at Warner Bros Pictures just three years after the release of The Matrix Resurrections. However, director Lana Wachowski will not return to direct the upcoming sequel. Instead, directing duties will be handed over to Drew Goddard, who helmed 2012’s The Cabin in the Woods and Marvel’s Daredevil.
A statement provided by Warner Bros Discovery (per Variety) revealed that The Matrix 5 is officially in the works after Drew Goddard approached the studio with ideas on how to continue the franchise. Goddard will serve as the fifth movie’s director, though Lana Wachowski will step back into an executive producer role.
Jesse Ehrman, Warner Bros Motion Pictures president of production, said in the statement:
“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. The entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making his new Matrix film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.”
Drew Goddard is best known for writing and directing the acclaimed 2012 meta-horror movie, The Cabin in the Woods. He was also a screenwriter on 2015’s The Martian and an executive producer on Marvel’s Daredevil. Next to The Matrix 5, Goddard is also serving as a producer on an upcoming untitled Cloverfield sequel.
Warner Bros. has announced that a fifth “Matrix” movie is in development.
It’ll be the first installment without Lana or Lily Wachowski as directors. Instead, “The Martian” screenwriter Drew Goddard will handle filmmaking duties. https://t.co/6mHva4nKVb pic.twitter.com/t0pIjJeqzP
— Variety (@Variety) April 3, 2024
The Matrix franchise initially concluded as a trilogy with 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions. However, Lana Wachowski (without her sister Lilly Wachowski) solely directed 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, a meta-sequel that poked fun at the idea of Hollywood’s obsession with continuing franchises while also giving Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, a new role in the virtual world. It also starred Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Neil Patrick Harris.
Source: Variety
