Hugo Weaving came close to throwing on the unassuming suit and shades of Agent Smith to return for The Matrix Resurrections, before scheduling conflicts ultimately forced him to decline the offer, but his impact could still be felt in the upcoming sci-fi action blockbuster, at least if a new rumor is to be believed.
As per One Take News, while Weaving didn’t show up on set or shoot any new footage, flashbacks and archival footage will be used to integrate him into the fourth installment. Whenever a new character mimics a line of dialogue spoken by Smith in the original trilogy, we’ll reportedly flash cut to Weaving speaking the snippet in question, tying Resurrections ever closer to the first three movies.
Jonathan Groff’s mystery character has regularly been named as Weaving’s potential successor as Agent Smith, and while we more than likely won’t be finding that out until Lana Wachowski’s reality-bending blockbuster comes to theaters and HBO Max on December 22, it sounds as though the OG’s shadow will be lurking in the background.
Of course, this hasn’t been confirmed or denied in an official capacity yet, and it’ll be just the tip of a veritable iceberg composed entirely of hearsay and scuttlebutt the closer we get to the release of The Matrix Resurrections, but it can’t be definitively ruled out at this stage, either.