“I offered my services to the fourth Matrix, and they didn’t respond well,” Laurence Fishburne said, revealing why he was not in Matrix 4.
Let’s be real — when you think of “The Matrix,” it’s hard not to picture Laurence Fishburne donning those tiny sunglasses and waxing philosophical as the ever-iconic Morpheus. But when “The Matrix Resurrections” dropped in 2021, something (or rather, someone) was noticeably missing: Fishburne. While Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprised their roles as Neo and Trinity, Fishburne’s Morpheus was nowhere to be seen.
During a recent sit-down on “The View,” Fishburne addressed his absence from the film’s fourth iteration. When host Sarah Haines asked if he’d ever consider returning to the franchise, Fishburne revealed that he was never interested in leaving.
“I offered my services for the fourth Matrix, and they didn’t respond well,” the actor shared. “So, hey, it’s not like I didn’t say, ‘Oh, I’d like to offer my services.’ I did. And for whatever reason, that didn’t happen. OK. But that’s the truth.”
“So we’ll see. It depends on the circumstances — who is involved, how well the script is written, if they offer me,” he added.
This isn’t the first time Fishburne has addressed being left out of the revival. In a 2022 interview with Variety, when asked if he felt like he missed out on Resurrections, his response was blunt: “Not really.”
And while he gave props to his OG co-stars (“I thought Carrie-Anne and Keanu really did their thing”), his review of the film was—let’s just say—measured. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” he said. “And it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be.”
Still, while Morpheus may be out of the Matrix (for now), Fishburne isn’t done throwing punches. He’ll reportedly be showing off his fighting skill in the upcoming thriller “The Amateur” set to premiere in theaters on April 11.
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