Jada Pinkett Smith is in talks to return to “The Matrix” franchise in the upcoming sequel, an individual with knowledge of the project tells TheWrap.
Smith starred as the human resistance fighter Niobe in the second and third installments, “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Matrix Revolutions.”
Smith would join other returning stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as Neo and Trinity. “Aquaman” villain Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is also in talks to join the cast. On Tuesday it was also reported that Neil Patrick Harris is in talks to join the cast as well.
Lana Wachowski is directing and will also produce the film along with Grant Hill. She is writing the screenplay for “The Matrix 4” with Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell. Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures will produce and distribute globally.
Details are being kept under wraps, but the still-untitled sequel would continue from the original “Matrix” trilogy, which followed Neo (Reeves), a hacker who learns that what he thinks is normal life in the late 20th century is actually a computer simulation in which most of humanity is enslaved, created by the advanced AI who won a devastating war with humanity centuries earlier. Awakened by Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburn) and Trinity (Moss), Neo joins the resistance and after great sacrifice — including his own life — succeeds in freeing humanity.
The three previous films in the franchise – “The Matrix” from 1999 and 2003’s “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” — have earned more than $1.6 billion at the global box office and were all Top-10 domestic hits in their respective years of release. “The Matrix Revolutions” was also the first film ever to release simultaneously in every major country at the same hour around the world.
Smith is currently the host and executive producer of Facebook Watch’s “Red Table Talk” which she hosts alongside her daughter Willow Smith and mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris. Pinkett Smith is repped by WME, manager Miguel Melendez at Three Six Zero Management and attorneys Jason Sloane and Mark Wetzstein.