The Matrix Resurrections is the upcoming fourth installment in the film franchise that pits the last surviving humans on Earth against a malevolent AI that has enslaved them in a simulated reality.
Now, to get fans of the movies hyped for its release in December, a new featurette has been released by Warner Bros., which you can view above. It features stars of the upcoming film musing about how the series has influenced their lives and the greater cultural discourse the films helped ignite about whether we can truly trust our senses.
While it doesn’t offer any new footage from the upcoming film—instead offering a kind of best-of reel of past installments—it is interesting to hear how the movies personally affected the lives of its legacy stars and the influence it had on newcomers of the franchise.
Keanu Reeves said being part of the franchise felt like “something beyond yourself,” while co-star Carrie-Ann Moss said the experience came during a “transformative time in my life.” The actors play Neo and Trinity respectively in the original trilogy and are coming back for the new installment.
Newcomer to the franchise Neil Patrick Harris mused on the glorious use of bullet time in the original and the sheer “ambition of their thought” when it came to the creators’ use of mind-blowing subject matter.
In fact, Moss even went so far as to say the films were so powerful, they made her question her reality at one point, saying, “Oh my God, we’re in the Matrix, I would literally think that.” Reeves added that the fan reactions of so many people saying it changed their lives was touching: “thank you, changed mine, too.”
You can catch up with the entire trilogy now on Digital and 4K Ultra HD today before The Matrix Resurrections comes to theaters on December 22nd, 2021.