Hugo Weaving, who embodied the Ying to Keanu Reeve’s Yang in the original Matrix trilogy by playing the film’s antagonist Agent Smith, will not be returning to reprise his role in the upcoming fourth movie.
Scheduling Conflict For Weaving
The news came out as the actor spoke via Timeout.com. Weaving explained the reason behind his inability to reprise the role as being a scheduling conflict with a play in which he was already committed.
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Weaving, who is currently working on a play called The Visit, opened up about what had occurred. He admitted that Lana Wachowski offered him the role to return at a difficult time. Stating that, “It’s unfortunate but actually I had this offer (The Visit) and then the offer came from “The Matrix”.
Hugo went on to say that he knew the project was going to happen, but there was a lack of clear dates and time frame. By the time a working schedule finally came out, it turned out that it wasn’t going to work for director Lana Wachowski.
“…so I knew it was happening but I didn’t have dates. I thought [I] could do both and it took eight weeks to work out that the dates would work – I held off on accepting [a role in “The Visit” during that time]. I was in touch with [director] Lana Wachowski, but in the end she decided that the dates weren’t going to work. So we’d sorted the dates and then she sort of changed her mind. They’re pushing on ahead without me.
Agent Smith’s Role
This is disappointing news for fans who were excited that most of the original cast are returning. But, how will the absence of Weaving effect a possible Agent Smith portion of the story?
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It seems that Weaving’s play might have played a role in Wachowski’s mind, but it may also be that ultimately, they might have decided to go another direction with the story altogether.
We can expect to see The Matrix 4 in theaters on May 21st, 2021.