Neil Patrick Harris is in talks to join the cast of “The Matrix” sequel, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
Harris would star in an undisclosed lead role opposite the sci-fi franchise’s 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. Lana Wachowski is directing the film that’s set at Warner Bros.
Wachowski will also produce the film along with Grant Hill that Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures will produce and distribute globally. She is writing the screenplay for “The Matrix 4” with Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell.
Plot details are currently being kept under wraps for the sequel, which jumps off of the premise that the reality in which all humans live is actually a computer simulation controlled by advanced machines harvesting energy from enslaved humans. In the original 1999 film, Reeves plays the hero named Neo who is destined by a prophecy to free the human race after he awakes from his simulation and joins up with a team of rebels to fight humanity’s slavers.
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.
“The Matrix” sequel would become the first tentpole at a major studio for the “How I Met Your Mother” star. Harris’ recent screen credits include the Netflix series “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Downsizing,” and “Gone Girl.”
Harris is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.
Variety first reported the news.