After what feels like an eternity, we have finally received our first look at The Matrix Resurrections via a bunch of cryptic mini-teasers. However, much like the mystery of The Matrix itself, the teasers themselves not only offer more questions than they answer, but even the act of watching them all can be a bit difficult.
Those who visit whatisthematrix.com are greeted with the choice of taking a Red Pill or Blue Pill, not unlike Neo’s choice from the original film. Once a pill is chosen, one possible video of 180,000 is played to offer a tease of the full trailer that is dropping on September 9. Each pill has different scenes, and there is no surefire way to ensure you’ve seen everything.
Still, we’ve gathered all the most important scenes from The Matrix Resurrection’s teasers that we could find in order to break down their significance and try to figure out what they may be letting us know about the film, which is set to be released in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22, 2021. Read on our scroll through the slideshow below!
Red Pill
If you choose the Red Pill on whatisthematrix.com, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s voice can be heard over the many possible scenes that might appear. While we don’t yet know who Abdul-Mateen is playing, some of these scenes hint that he could be a new version of a beloved character.
“This is the moment,” Abdul-Mateen says. “For you to show us what is real. Right now, you believe it’s [the current time when you are watching the video], but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Could be this is the first day of the rest of your life, but if you want it, you got to fight for it.”
For those who need a refresher, Neo took the Red Pill in the first Matrix after Mopheus says, “You take the Red Pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
While we do get glimpses of Neo in the Red Pill scenes, Abdul-Mateen II’s character has some of the most intriguing moments. One includes him not only staring at his reflection in the mirror with a sense of disbelief, but it also shows his fingers appearing to pass through that mirror, which is similar to another scene in the Blue Pill’s collection.
Another, which is one that probably raises the most questions, sees him being built/rebuilt by some machine. This, and many more in both the Red Pill and Blue Pill scenes, may lend weight to the theory that Abdul-Mateen II is actually playing a new version of Morpheus.
Laurence Fishburne doesn’t appear to be returning to his role as Morpheus, but The Matrix Online may be the key to not only why this is, but also to why Abdul-Mateen II may be playing a reborn version of the character.
The Matrix Online was an MMORPG that ran from 2005-2009 and was actually a canon continuation of The Matrix story following The Matrix Revolutions. One of the biggest story moments in the MMO was the death of Morpheus. Yes, you read that right.
In Chapter 1.2 of The Matrix Online, Morpheus was demanding the return of Neo’s body from the machines and began orchestrating attacks across The Matrix to accomplish his goal. During one of these attacks, Morpheus is killed by gunshots from a character known as the Assassin, who had bullets with a “kill code.”
Sure, anything could happen and Fishburne could still return, but it's an interesting rabbit hole of its own to go down.
The Red Pill scenes also include a few glimpses of life outside The Matrix, and we see a flying ship that’s not totally unlike Morpheus’ ship the Nebuchadnezzar from the original films. We also see characters being attacked by sentinels.
Another scene that may be from outside the Matrix is a glimpse of a character’s eye. What’s of note in this image is that the eyelashes appear to be mostly gone and could be a look at a character – possibly Neo – waking up from the Matrix. In the first movie, Neo wakes up in a pod and has no hair, and this could be a similar situation.
Other scenes include a character getting jacked into the Matrix, glimpses of Trinity and Jessica Henwick’s characters, Neo walking towards the Simulatte coffee shop that was mentioned in the CinemaCon footage that screened recently, and Jonathan Groff’s character having his mouth sealed like Neo’s was in the original.
Blue Pill
If you choose the Blue Pill on whatisthematrix.com, you are treated to narration by Neil Patrick Harris, a newcomer to the franchise who is set to play a therapist (this character was reportedly speaking to Neo in the footage at CinemaCon.)
“Do you remember how you got here? You’ve lost your capacity to discern reality from fiction,” Harris says throughout the teaser(s). “What’s real is here and now, [the current time when you are watching the video]. Anything else is just your mind playing tricks on you. It becomes a problem when fantasies endanger us. We don’t want anyone to get hurt, do we?”
If Neo had taken the Blue Pill in the first film, according to Morpheus, “The story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.”
While this could obviously be a misdirect, it could hint that Harris’ character may be someone who wants to keep The Matrix as it is and keep Neo unaware of what is truly going on. In the CinemaCon footage, Neo is said to have been taking two Blue Pills a day and, when Neo and Trinity meet at a coffee shop, neither of them appear to remember each other.
We may see this moment in one of the teasers for The Matrix Resurrections when Neo and Trinity are together but Trinity pulls her hand away from him.
Other footage does include Neo and Trinity working together, however, and shows the return of Neo’s ability to stop bullets in their tracks.
Blue Pills also show up in multiple teasers, and one in particular looks to have Neo pouring a ton of them down a sink, possibly as he starts to remember his past. While we don’t see his face, his iconic trench coat may be a giveaway it is him.
The last Blue Pill scene worth mentioning is the most surprising, and may show us a glimpse of old Neo. We see Neo taking these pills – which look to be called Ontolofloxin – but the mirror next to him shows an older version of him taking the same pills. What could it mean? Only time will tell.
What we do know is that Ontology, according to Merriam-Webster, is “a branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature and relations of being” or “a particular theory about the nature of being or the kinds of things that have existence.”
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jessica Henwick’s characters also show up in the Blue Pill teasers, and there are a few hints that further tease the possibility that Abdul-Mateen is actually a reborn/new Morpheus. Beyond the obvious comparison that is seen when Neo and Abdul-Mateen’s yet-unknown character are fighting in a dojo that looks much like a similar scene from the original trilogy with Neo and Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus, one of the teasers may give us a glimpse of those round glasses Morpheus loved to wear.
In the image, Abdul-Mateen and Henwick are running down a hallway and Abdul-Mateen is wearing sunglasses. The striking thing, however, is that behind a pair of standard sunglasses with a flat top appears to be those round glasses that Morpheus wore.
Other possible Blue Pill scenes include a black cat, which in the Fifth and Six Matrix signified Deja Vu. There are also glimpses of a character with two ports on the back of their head, an arm with a gun passing through a mirror, Jonathan Groff’s character smiling, Neo walking through a door of light and another with him walking off the edge of a building with others looking on, and more.
We don’t have long to wait to learn more about The Matrix Resurrections, but be sure to let us know in the comments below what your wildest theories are about the first Matrix film since 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions — including why The Matrix digital rain in the teasers starts off normal in that it is falling down, but then starts going up and changing colors. So much to discuss!
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.