Sadly, we won't be hearing the methodical "Mr. Anderson" of Agent Smith in The Matrix 4. Hugo Weaving has confirmed he won't be returning to the sci-fi franchise that helped make him a huge star in the early 2000s.
The reason is any beef he has with the Matrix films, it all boils down to boring ol' scheduling conflicts. Weaving and director Lana Wachowski were keen on working together again, but as he tells Time Out London it just wasn't meant to be...
“It’s unfortunate but actually I had this offer [for The Visit] and then the offer came from The Matrix, 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.”
She "changed her mind"? What does that mean, exactly? Did Wachowski write Agent Smith out of the script? Or did she decide to recast the role? As we saw...or better yet heard, in Avengers: Endgame during the Red Skull sequence it's not hard to find someone who can replicate Weaving's voice.
So Weaving won't be joining the other returning Matrix stars, Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Jada Pinkett Smith, when the sequel drops on May 21st 2021.
