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The Matrix franchise returned to the big screen in 2021 after almost 18 years – here's everything The Matrix Resurrections reveals and retcons about the previous films. While The Matrix Revolutions offered a solid ending to the saga, The Matrix's impact on pop culture always suggested that another sequel or even a reboot could eventually happen. After several rumors, including a brand new story featuring Michael B. Jordan as the lead, The Matrix 4 finally became a real project, bringing brought Lana Wachowski back in the director's chair and continuing the story of the first three films.

Considering that both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Resurrections were far from being universally praised as the first movie, mostly due to the several new and sometimes difficult to understand concepts such as the Architect and what the Oracle truly was, The Matrix 4 was always going to be a difficult movie to pull of – especially so many years after the original trilogy. As confusing and controversial as Neo's story in The Matrix Revolutions was, the film's ending seemed to have to conclude the story once and for all. Therefore, in order for The Matrix Resurrections to work, a lot of The Matrix films retcons had to happen, and new concepts had to be introduced.

Just the fact that Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss were reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity, respectively, was already enough to suggest that Matrix Resurrections would have to retcon the Matrix Revolutions' ending. Not only that, but in order for there to be any conflicts in the Matrix Resurrections' plot, the seemly peace achieved at the end of Matrix Revolutions with the truce between humanity and machines will have to end. From new rules inside the Matrix to Agent Smith not looking like Hugo Weaving, The Matrix Resurrections changes a lot from what audiences knew about the saga.

The Machines Fought Among Themselves

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After everything that humanity had to sacrifice in the war against the machines, including the lives of Neo and Trinity, ignoring or retconning the truce accomplished in Revolutions would have been a mistake – one that Resurrections avoided. Instead, it was revealed that the machines were having a power shortage issue as they did not have enough people to generate energy now that humans could choose to be freed from the Matrix. That led to a civil war amongst the machines – a concept that was never present in the original Matrix films.

Neo And Trinity Were Resurrected

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While both Neo and Trinity died in Matrix Revolutions, Resurrections reveals that the machines found a way to restore their bodies and neural systems, thus essentially resurrecting The Matrix's heroes and explaining the title of the movie. Neo and Trinity were resurrected and kept alive in special pods designed by Rama-Kandra, Sati's father. Initially, the reason why the machines spent so many resources to keep Neo and Trinity alive was that they could generate far more power than other humans – especially if they were placed in the Matrix under specific circumstances.

A New Version Of The Matrix Was Launched

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The Matrix Resurrections' villain is The Analyst, and his story is the beginning of the film's biggest changes from the other Matrix movies. In that scenario of war between the machines, The Analyst rose with a concept for a new version of the Matrix, one in which desire and fear would be the main focus of the simulation. On top of that, Neo and Trinity would be kept alive and close to each other inside the Matrix, and yet they would never be truly together. This subconscious anguish that happened every time they saw each other and that neither of them could explain would then become the Analyst's Matrix's main source of power. In this new Matrix, Neo lived a life as a successful game developer, his most famous work was a game called The Matrix, and Trinity also had an ordinary life with her husband and children.

The Matrix's Original Programs Were Purged

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For The Analyst's plans to work, the key programs from the previous iterations of the Matrix, such as the Architect, the Oracle, and Rama-Kandra, could not be part of the equation. That is indeed the case, as The Matrix Resurrections reveals that The Analyst purged those programs. This is why none of those crucial Matrix characters are present in the 2021 film.

Neo And Trinity Have A New Look In The Matrix

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In Resurrections, it is revealed that the way other people see Neo in The Matrix is different from how he and the audiences perceive Keanu Reeves' character. That's how the machines made sure no one could find Neo. In fact, the "real" Neo is played by another actor and looks almost nothing like Keanu Reeves. Likewise, Trinity – who now believes she is called Tiffany – is blonde to those around her in the Matrix.

Neo Created A New Morpheus

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Morpheus died in The Matrix Online game, which is canon to the Matrix story, and therefore Laurence Fishburne's absence from The Matrix Resurrections makes sense. However, the film reveals that Neo had subconsciously created a sentient program inspired by the two figures who shaped his hero's journey in the Matrix films: Morpheus and Agent Smith. That is why Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's character initially acts and sounds like Smith and later assumes Morpheus's role of guiding Neo in his journey out of the Matrix.

Programs Can Be Freed From The Matrix

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One of the biggest changes in The Matrix Resurrections is that now the programs can also be freed from the Matrix. In a sort of reverse process of what happens to the humans plugged into the Matrix, the program can be downloaded in a nanotech interface in the real world. They can then assume a form that resembles how they looked in the Matrix.

Zion Fell (And Humans Have A New Home)

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Zion, the real-world human city in The Matrix, had come out victorious in Revolutions, but the city ultimately fell to a later attack. After The Analyst's faction won the machine civil war, the human city was attacked and destroyed. However, Niobe managed to lead a considerable amount of survivors to a new city: Io. By the time Neo reunites with Niobe, 60 years have passed since Revolutions.

Some Machines Live With The Humans

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In this new human home founded by Niobe, some machines live in peace along with the humans. Those particular machines preferred to be called Synthient, and they collaborated with the humans in the making of the Io community. For example, thanks to the lines of codes those machines had in storage, Io was able to reverse-engineer produce from the Matrix and grow them in the real world.

Agent Smith Is Back (But Looks Different)

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Agent Smith was Neo's greatest opponent in The Matrix, and they faced each other throughout the first three films. At the end of Resurrections, after Smith had partially assimilated Neo, his body collapsed into a surge of energy, and thus he and all of his clones were destroyed. However, Agent Smith returned in The Matrix Resurrections, and the film suggests that his deep connection with Neo made it so that antagonist could be revived along with the hero. Just like Neo, Smith initially did not remember who he truly was, which started to change during the attack on his and Neo's office. Considering that almost anything about Agent Smith had been destroyed at the end of Revolutions, what remained from Smith's programming inside Neo had to create a new image from scratch after being revived, thus explaining why Agent Smith looks different in Matrix Resurrections. Another major difference is that this time, Agent Smith saves Neo and Trinity now that he is a free being who understands how important The One is to him.

There Are Bots In The Matrix

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Before, all of the people in the Matrix simulation, with the exception of the Agents, were avatars of real imprisoned humans. Now, in the Matrix created by the Analyst, there are also bots – lines of code that look and act like real humans inside the Matrix. Those are what Neo and Trinity face at the end of The Matrix Resurrections, and therefore the heroes were not actually hurting anyone.

Neo And Trinity Together Are The One

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Perhaps The Matrix Resurrections' biggest retcon is that Trinity is also an extraordinary being, and then Trinity and Neo are both The One – when they are together. While it is not clear whether that was the case in the original Matrix designed by the Architect or something that only happens in the Analyst's Matrix, the fact is that Trinity has in Resurrections the same powers as Neo had in the other films. In The Matrix Resurrections ending, which makes the first film's ending come full circle, Trinity is able to fly along with Neo.