THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Originally Planned To Bring Hugo Weaving Back As Agent Smith - Possible SPOILERS

Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith proved himself a terrifying villain in the original Matrix trilogy, but the actor isn't part of Resurrections. However, there were once plans for him to reprise the role...

By JoshWilding - Dec 29, 2021 05:12 AM EST

Filed Under: Matrix

Source: io9

The Matrix Resurrections has been met with a mixed response from fans and critics alike, while those early box office numbers are a strong indication that a sequel probably isn't going to happen (the Warner Bros. execs who thought it would be a good idea to open less than a week after Spider-Man: No Way Home must be feeling spectacularly stupid right now).

One major sticking point for even the biggest fans of the Matrix franchise was the decision to recast Morpheus and Agent Smith. Laurence Fishburne was replaced by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, while Jonathan Groff filled in for Hugo Weaving. Morpheus didn't have enough screentime for Abdul-Mateen II to be fairly judged, but the talented Groff was, unfortunately, unable to recapture that "Mr. Anderson" magic.

After confirming "a new Morpheus was there from the beginning," co-writer Aleksandar Hemon told io9 that there were once plans for Weaving to reprise his role as the villainous Agent Smith.

"There were preliminary talks [with Hugo Weaving] and so we were not involved in them with people, but it was not entirely resolved. Because the premise of The Matrix and [this] movie is somewhat different, Agent Smith would have been different in some ways, no matter who played it. And Jonathan Groff is amazing in that role."

"He added a dimension that I could not foresee while we were writing," he added. "But there’s an increased emotional emotionality in the movie and then he fits into that pattern."

Fishburne has previously said he was never contacted, while Weaving himself has actually said that scheduling conflicts proved problematic for his potential return as Smith. While him being part of the movie wouldn't necessarily have made up for The Matrix Resurrections' many other flaws, it would have provided this fourth instalment with a much stronger antagonist than Groff's pale imitation.

Read our review of the latest instalment in The Matrix series by clicking here.

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS: Laurence Fishburne Shares Brutally Honest Review Of The Disappointing Sequel

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35 Comments

smudgewhat2 - 12/29/2021, 7:02 AM

When I first saw the preview it almost looked like a TV movie? What the hell happened?

Gizmoduck - 12/29/2021, 7:06 AM

@smudgewhat2 - it stayed looking like a TV show, the choreography was dreadful, the lighting, sets, costume design, camera angles and story made me feel like this was a TV show they sliced up then put back together.

Also these directors are still thriving on the success of one film and people think they are going to strike gold again.

TheShape9859 - 12/29/2021, 7:07 AM

Movie was absolute garbage. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is 10x more enjoyable than this. I'd be ok if they never make another Matrix movie. But if they do please keep all of the Wachoskis away from it...

McMurdo - 1/2/2022, 10:21 AM

@TheShape9859 - that’s just not true that Resident Evil film was painful as [frick]. Makes this film look like Citizen [frick]ing Kane

TheHumanSpider2 - 12/29/2021, 7:24 AM

"He added a dimension that I could not foresee while we were writing,"

Yeah, he tried to play the Joker with the whole homoerotic relationship with Neo...[frick] off, movie.

Anyway, Hugo after seeing the BO numbers:

MuadDib - 12/29/2021, 7:25 AM

The lazy writing is what killed this movie.

The new Morpheus is worst than the new Smith.

RuffianForever - 12/29/2021, 8:33 AM

@MuadDib - actually liked new morpheus. not sure why people hate him so much

new smith, that was abysmal.

MuadDib - 12/29/2021, 9:06 AM

@RuffianForever - Morpheus’s lines from 1-3 were GOLD. This new Morpheus wants to be too cool, but comes out sounding dumb.

The writing was atrocious. His lines are cringy. Not complaining about the actor as much as the script he had to work with.

That said, would have preferred Fishburn come back somehow 1000%

I get that it may not have been conducive to the warped storyline they were pushing, but what we got was very mediocre.

JonC - 12/29/2021, 1:10 PM

@MuadDib - New Morpheus was 'ok', new Smith was less than 'ok'

Nunyabiz - 12/29/2021, 8:00 AM

hugo dodged a bullet

Origame - 12/29/2021, 8:13 AM

Hold up. Considering morpheus was just a program based on the original morpheus, why couldn't they have done the same thing with Smith?

ElricReturns - 12/29/2021, 8:32 AM

Yahya wasn't just playing young Morpheus, he was a hybrid of Agent Smith and Morpheus, which was dope. By the time they were in the white room I could see the zany nature of evil Smith coming through Morpheus' personality. Such a crazy idea, Neo's mentor and his nemesis programmed into one entity.

micvalpro - 12/29/2021, 11:50 AM

@ElricReturns - A better actor would have killed with that idea. He however did not. His morpheus felt no different than his Smith.

ElricReturns - 12/29/2021, 12:00 PM

@micvalpro - true

JonC - 12/29/2021, 1:11 PM

@ElricReturns - So much of the original cast was gone for such poor reasons that it actually felt like they simply didn't have the budget for them... and the movie looks like they didn't have the budget either.

ElricReturns - 12/29/2021, 1:58 PM

@JonC - I definitely felt like a Netflix show rather than a feature film at times.

RuffianForever - 12/29/2021, 8:32 AM

"Jonathan Groff is amazing in that role"

bruh.... did i just read that? the actor was awful. he didnt scare anyone like hugo weaving did.

i swear the more i hear about this movie from people involved, the more like it feels like it was intentionally sabotaged.

slickrickdesigns - 12/29/2021, 8:56 AM

There was a lot of off things about this movie and the Agent Smith character was definitely one of those things that felt off. I would’ve been ok with Hugo in the role to make it feel more cohesive to the previous movies.

bobevanz - 12/29/2021, 9:05 AM

Terrible movie, get help if you think it was good

MaxPaint - 12/29/2021, 9:06 AM

The whole thing was a bad idea right from the start.

LilJimmy - 12/29/2021, 9:52 AM

Agent Smith apparently cant die? Neither can Neo or Trinity.

micvalpro - 12/29/2021, 11:46 AM

emotional emotionality

micvalpro - 12/29/2021, 11:48 AM

You can tell they didn't bring Morpheus back because they don't want a fat old guy. The Matrix has to be sexy.

JonC - 12/29/2021, 1:12 PM

@micvalpro - Old Trinity and Neo were more sexy than any new person they cast.

AnthonyVonGeek - 12/29/2021, 12:24 PM

More like “The Matrix Regurgitation”

bcom - 12/29/2021, 4:06 PM

So what happened to Smith in the end? He morphed into someone else and then just disappeared. Was it intentionally done to make us think he’s still out there somewhere just in case they decide to make a sequel?

This movie simply pales in comparison to its predecessors. The action is bland and generic rather than mind and physics bending and the meta references were a bit over done. It also seems like Neo’s only power now is a force push which was way overused. Even the poorly sung cover of RATM’s ‘Wake Up’ at the end was horrible.

Instead of leaving the theatre with my mind completely blown after the first Matrix, I left this time bitterly disappointed.

ElricAtreides - 12/29/2021, 6:01 PM

IMO the first Matrix was the only one worth watching. Original, creative, Groundbreaking... When RAM's Wake Up kick's in at the end, that was truly an epic moment for me.
It was kind of appropriate that there was such a lame reproduction of that song to match the lame reproduction of that movie.

AgentSmith - 1/4/2022, 11:46 AM

Meh - that's about what this movie was. I so wanted to enjoy it - I wanted to be taken back into the Matrix all over again. I ignored the reviews and went to see it for myself. I sure am disappointed. I can't get over how disappointed I am I am so disappointed. And don't even get me started on my resurrected self.

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Originally Planned To Bring Hugo Weaving Back As Agent Smith - Possible SPOILERS

Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith proved himself a terrifying villain in the original Matrix trilogy, but the actor isn't part of Resurrections. However, there were once plans for him to reprise the role...

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