When The Matrix trilogy ended with The Matrix Revolutions, fans thought Neo’s unity with the Machines brought peace back to the world. Unfortunately, The Matrix Resurrections shows it’s back to the simulation once more. Whereas The Matrix trilogy ended with Neo’s sacrifice to stop Agent Smith’s relentless pursuit of destruction, Resurrections shows both Neo and Trinity alive and well.
And with The Matrix Resurrections ending with Neo and Trinity back with the Resistance, it’s interesting to see just how their return will shake up the status quo, especially with the possibility of a sequel. Here's what unanswered questions a Matrix Resurrections sequel should answer.
11 What Is The Basis Of This New Matrix?
One of the things that made the Matrix such a standout concept within the franchise is its relatability. After all, aside from its familiar green coloring, Neo’s original Matrix was based on humanity at the turn of both the 20th and 21st centuries. All these were highlighted with bustling metropolises, the rise of computers, and even the delicate balance between payphones and flip phones. There was a particular order in the aesthetic of this Matrix, which made it quite recognizable anywhere.
However, with the Analyst’s takeover and design of the new Matrix, there doesn’t seem to be any particular basis other than being roughly around the same time as the release of Resurrections - that is, the 2010s to 2020s. Despite this being a nitpick for some, perhaps Sati or the Analyst could answer for the lack of a cohesive aesthetic in a possible sequel.
10 Is Bugs A Synthient?
An interesting point in the dialogue happened between Bugs and Modal-Morpheus at the very beginning of the film. When the two found themselves at gunpoint, Bugs confronted Modal-Morpheus about his true nature as digital sentience. Modal-Morpheus acknowledges this, as well as his role in hunting down and destroying synthients, “like” Bugs.
At first, viewers could completely ignore this technical phrase given it’s the beginning of the film. However, things can become weird once Bugs introduces Neo and the gang to the rest of the team. Apparently, Cybebe, Lumin8, and Octacles are all Machines serving under Bugs’ unit, and they said they prefer being called “Synthients” instead of Machines. When analyzed, this is an interesting question - why did Modal-Morpheus call Bugs a Synthient?
9 Is Bugs The Oracle?
When Neo reawakens inside the Mnemosyne, he has a heart-to-heart talk with Bugs, who served as the ship’s captain. At some point, he tells her that she reminds him of the Oracle whenever they talked, and that’s when she said that at some point after the new Matrix was created, a Purge happened that eliminated Exiles like the Oracle. This implies that the Oracle may have been deleted. However, the Merovingian’s presence in the Matrix soon after implies that there may be a way for Exiles to find a safe location inside the program.
This question, and perhaps theory, has two supporting arguments. First, it’s Bugs that often quoted the Oracle in the film. In the first sequence, she tells Morpheus that “The choice is an illusion, you already know what you have to do.” Granted, since The Matrix was a popular game at the time, anyone who loved Neo would’ve learned the phrase. However, the second point still goes back to the question of why Morpheus called Bugs a Synthient. Was it because Bugs was housing a dormant Oracle?
8 Will Bugs Betray The Team?
In the Mnemosyne core, it reads - Mark III No. 19, made in the EU year 2274. Aside from its origin and date of creation, perhaps what’s most interesting is its “Mark III No. 19” designation, which, taking a cue from the original trilogy Nebuchadnezzar’s “Mark III No. 11,” is likely yet another Bible reference. When translated as a verse, Mark 3:11 reads: "...and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him."
While there aren’t any plans for a sequel yet, this core inscription implies someone in the ship is likely a traitor. Albeit it’s completely possible for other crew members to eventually betray the team, Bugs is a very likely candidate. In the film alone, Bugs is quite outspoken about her desire to continue Morpheus’s original mission to save humans and get out of the Matrix.
Given the ending where Neo and Trinity seem to want to prioritize helping Bluepills unlock the power of their minds, Bugs might eventually oppose them. Not to mention, given how Blue is almost always pro-Matrix, how come Bugs has blue hair and blue sunglasses - similar to how the Analyst has blue-framed eyeglasses?
7 How Do Portals Work?
Another interesting detail a sequel could enlighten viewers with would probably be the inner workings of portals. Whereas the original trilogy made use of payphones as hardlines to jack out of the Matrix, Resurrections introduces a simpler solution - portals from anywhere that can act as a door or a window. This is why viewers see Neo and the gang go in and out of doors, windows, and even mirrors. However, things can get inconsistent as sometimes Bugs and others could be seen getting in and out of the Matrix without using these tools.
What’s interesting is that the portal concept might be a page out of the Keymaker’s toolkit. In the trilogy, the Keymaker’s keys act as an access point to the backdoors within the Matrix, which visually takes the form of a corridor of white with an endless row of doors. While Seq doesn’t reveal the technical mechanisms involved with portals, this might be an inspiration for the concept.
6 How Do Exiles Survive The Purge?
When Neo told Bugs she sounded like the Oracle, she said she’s only heard stories about her. This was when she revealed that the Oracle was one of the many programs that were purged soon after the new Matrix was created. What’s interesting is that, upon Neo’s reentry in the Matrix post-awakening, he’s confronted not just by Agent Smith, but what appears to be a disheveled and disgruntled Merovingian.
The Merv’s rants aside, it’s quite interesting to see the Merv alive and well (albeit without his iconic style) when all Exiled Programs should’ve been purged. Given how Agent Smith was given some degree of autonomy within the Matrix, perhaps he could’ve been hiding the Exiles somewhere they could be safe. Or perhaps the Oracle herself has foreseen this and found a way to keep herself and other Exiles safe from deletion.
5 What Happened To Zion?
After Neo’s second awakening, Bugs and her crew brought him to the last human city, which was surprisingly not Zion. Instead, they went into Io, a human-Synthient colony headed by none other than Niobe, Morpheus’s former lover and former captain of the Logos. According to her, Io was established soon after the Machine Civil War, where a lack of resources had the Machines form a splinter group that joined the humans once they realized their best bet at survival stemmed from cooperation.
And when Neo asked about Morpheus, Niobe took him to a cave with a lot of candles alongside a huge statue of Morpheus. She explained Morpheus immediately became Zion’s leader after Neo’s sacrifice, but Morpheus’s insistence that the war was over eventually led to Zion’s downfall and his death. Unfortunately, the circumstances surrounding Morpheus’s death have never been explored. Hopefully, Neo and Trinity would be able to explore this in a sequel.
4 Is Trinity Now The One?
According to the Analyst, it’s never been “just Neo’ that ticked within the original Matrix. Rather, it’s the combined energies of Neo and Trinity that managed to get them this far. It’s only after the Analyst realized that they can use their energies that they can create a Matrix-based solely on tapping into a person’s hope and despair. While Neo could enjoy this newfound freedom, he chose to instead try to awaken Trinity.
However, what happened was that alongside Trinity’s awakening was also the activation of her hidden abilities. Like the One, Trinity gained the ability to fly and to even kill and resurrect the Analyst with single hits. This interesting tidbit may have fans ask the question - is Trinity replacing Neo as the One, or is she one of many Ones?
3 Will Neo Use The Failsafe?
The black cat has had quite an interesting relationship with Neo throughout the franchise. As it’s been explained to him, the black cat signifies a glitch in the Matrix and the system is planning to correct it. Therefore, a black cat is almost always a signal of the Matrix either sending Agents to Neo’s position or the Matrix itself fixing an error, as seen in the ending where the simulation seemingly repairs itself.
The same black cat appears in Resurrections, in the form of Deja Vu the Cat. The Analyst is seen owning this cat, which he says Neo doesn’t particularly like. Moreover, the Analyst is seemingly seen reaching for Deja Vu in the final conflict, implying that Deja Vu might hold the failsafe that resets the new Matrix into its old iteration should all else fail. Seeing as Neo is seen holding Deja Vu at the end of the film, this means he’s now in possession of something that can reset the new Matrix. However, why he’s still holding the failsafe and if he plans on doing something with it is something a sequel may be able to answer.
2 Does The Matrix Determine The One?
In the original trilogy, Neo has had quite a reputation of being the One as he’s seen as the messiah capable of controlling the Matrix and leading the Resistance to victory against the Machines. However, the Architect soon reveals that the concept of the One is illusory, as their true purpose is to return to the source code and pave the way for a total reset in the Matrix to eradicate anomalies. Now that there’s a completely new Matrix, it seems even Trinity has the privilege of becoming the One.
This begs the question - who exactly bestows the title of being the One to a person? It’s very likely that the Matrix itself bestows immense programming ability to a user it considers the One, especially with recent events. As fans recall, the Analyst’s new Matrix relies on both Neo and Trinity to keep everything together. This intrinsic “reliance” on both of them may have had the new Matrix assign both Neo and Trinity as the One. However, does this mean any iteration of the Matrix can assign this role to as many people they see fit?
1 What Endgame Is Agent Smith Aiming For?
Agent Smith has easily become one of the most recognizable villains in a sci-fi franchise, particularly for his obsession with Neo and eventual desire of eradicating both the Matrix and the Real World. His transformation into a virus-like rogue program was what prompted Neo and the Machines to achieve a truce to stop him, but it seems Agent Smith is kept alive as one of Neo’s “grounding” points in the new Matrix.
During Neo’s reawakening, this seemed to reawaken Agent Smith as well - to the point of him helping out Neo every now and then against the Analyst. In the end, Agent Smith dispatches the Analyst before escaping. He tells Neo that, whereas “anyone” can be the One, Agent Smith has always been no one. Unlike other returning characters, Agent Smith is terrifying as his nature and objectives aren’t always truly certain. And considering his penchant for destruction in the original trilogy, Agent Smith might once again stand in the way of Neo and Trinity wanting to awaken Bluepills.
The Matrix Resurrections was released on December 22, 2021, in the United States.
