Summary List Placement
It’s been over two decades since viewers were first introduced to the world of “The Matrix” (1999).
And the series isn’t over quite yet – the fourth installment of the Lana and Lily Wachowski-directed franchise is in the works and it’s set to star favorites from the original movie, including Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.
Read on to see what the original cast of “The Matrix” is up to 21 years after the movie’s initial release.
Keanu Reeves starred as a computer programmer and hacker named Thomas "Neo" Anderson.
Before becoming a household from his role in "The Matrix," Reeves already had over a decade of film and TV credits under his belt.
He starred in films like "Speed" (1994) and "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989), as well as starring on the shot-lived spin-off series "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures."
The actor has recently had a career revival, which some people are calling "The Keanaissance."
Since the premiere of "The Matrix," Reeves revived his role in "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003), "The Matrix Revolutions" (2003), and he's currently working on "The Matrix 4," which is currently set to debut in 2022.
He also went on to star in the "John Wick" series and is working on its fourth installment that's set to be released in 2022.
Although the actor's career has spanned over three decades, Reeves has recently been making headlines due to his uncharacteristic film roles in rom-com like Netflix's "Always Be My Maybe" and the Pixar animated film "Toy Story 4."
This past year, he also starred in "Bill and Ted Face the Music" (2020).
Carrie-Anne Moss played Trinity, a crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar who falls in love with Neo.
Moss was already a decade into her successful acting career in films and on TV before taking on the role of Trinity.
Although Moss is best-known for playing Neo's love interest, she also went on to play Natalie in "Memento" (2000), Detective Olivia Neal in "The Crew" (2000), and Caroline Clairmont in "Chocolat" (2000) the following year.
In recent years, Moss has spent more time on television.
In addition to playing lawyer Jeryn Hogarth on Marvel's "Daredevil," "Iron Fist," "The Defenders," and "Jessica Jones," Moss recently starred as Rebecca Pruitt on the series "Tell Me a Story" and played FBI agent Maggie Griffin on "Wisting."
She is set to return for the latest installment of "The Matrix."
As Morpheus, Laurence Fishburne played the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar who gives Neo the pill showing him the reality of the Matrix.
The "Pee-wee's Playhouse" alum appeared as Morpheus for the first time in 1999.
The Wachowskis reportedly asked Fishburne to draw inspiration for his performance from the character Morpheus who appears in Neil Gaiman's comics "Sandman," according to Gaiman's blog.
Since "The Matrix," the actor has starred alongside Reeves in the "John Wick" films as Bowery King.
The actor has also done a lot of work on television. He's played Jack Crawford on "Hannibal," Alex Haley on "Roots," Nelson Mandela on "Madiba," and the character Pops on "Grown-ish" and "Black-ish."
He currently has several films in production (including "The Ice Road" with Liam Neeson) but he hasn't been confirmed for "The Matrix 4."
As Agent Smith, Hugo Weaving played one of the Matrix's highly intelligent and sentient computers who tries to keep humans from freeing themselves.
Before the film, Hugo Weaving found success appearing in several TV mini-series throughout the late 1980s and 1990s.
According to Weaving, one of the best parts about appearing in "The Matrix" was being able to add some humor to his role.
"I thought [Agent Smith] would be great fun to play. There's definitely a light relief there. The heroes don't have the ability to dip into humor. They're trying to save the world," Weaving said, reflecting on his character during a 2018 interview with Film Ink.
"I have much more scope with my character to be funny. You could see it in the writing - it attracted me to that character."
Weaving went on to play villains in movies like "V for Vendetta" (2005) and "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011).
But in addition to playing villains, the actor is well-known for playing the elf Elrond in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Hobbit" series.
His most recent films include "Hearts and Bones" (2019), "Measure for Measure" (2019), and "Lone Wolf" (2020). He's currently working on the sci-fi flick "Loveland," which is slated to be released this year.
Joe Pantoliano took on the role of Cypher, a human who'd been freed by Morpheus but later betrayed him in order to get back into the Matrix.
Joe Pantoliano, who'd previously worked with the Wachowskis in the 1996 flick "Bound," reunited with his "The Matrix" co-star Moss for "Memento" in 2000.
In recent years, Pantoliano has played Ralph Cifaretto on "The Sopranos" and Michael Gorski on "Sense8."
Although it's unclear if he'll be back for the fourth "Matrix" film, the actor recently reprised his role as Captain Howard in "Bad Boys For Life" (2020).
He is currently working on four films, including "Spring Break '83" and "Short Straw."
Switch, a freed human who was later a part of the Nebuchadnezzar crew, was played by Belinda McClory.
Prior to her role in "The Matrix," Belinda McClory had several smaller parts on TV shows.
She played Kirsty Nichols on "Janus," Wendy on "Simon De Beauvoir's Babies," and Sr. Const. Robyn Taylor on "Blue Heelers."
"The Matrix" was the height of McClory's career thus far, but she's also known for starring in "Darklovestory" (2006) and "X" (2011).
Recently, the actress also played Alice Harvey on "The Doctor Blake Mysteries" series and subsequent TV movies.
Her most recent credit is "2099: The Soldier Protocol" (2019).
Mouse, a freed human and programmer aboard the Nebuchadnezzar, was played by Matt Doran.
Prior to his role in "The Matrix," the Australian actor played Damian Roberts on the series "Home and Away" as well as Private Cooms in "The Thin Red Line" (1998).
Doran went on to play Elan Sleazebaggano in "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones" (2002) and Malcolm in the 2006 remake of "Macbeth."
He's kept busy with smaller roles in recent years and is set to play Jake Galloway in the upcoming thriller "Intersection."
Robert Taylor played another one of the sentient machines in "The Matrix," named Agent Jones.
Another "Home and Away" star, Taylor played Nicholas Walsh on the popular Australian series before appearing in "The Matrix."
He also played Dave Griffin in a number of "The Feds" TV-movie installments as well as Jack Cleary in "The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years" (1996).
The actor has kept busy over the decades, most notably playing the title role on the long-running series "Longmire."
He is also known for having many movie roles, playing Skip Taylor in "Vertical Limit" (2000), Everett in "Rogue" (2007), and Heller in "The Meg" (2018).
Most recently he was in "Into the Ashes" (2019), "Blood Vessel" (2019), and on the Netflix series "Dolly Parton's Heartstrings."
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