There’s just over a month until The Matrix Resurrections blesses cinema screens with its iconic green code. Details are still locked behind iron-clad encryptions, and the prospect of a second trailer could be on the horizon soon. Thankfully, to tide us over till then, we have our first official character poster, and it is glorious.
Neo is donning his legendary overcoat, Trinity is in full badass mode, and “Morpheus” is looking slicker than ever. While it’s excellent to see these characters in their modern form, the Matrix 4 poster may just have given us one of the biggest clues yet, when it comes to the Resurrections plot: a new tagline, “Return To The Source.” Is this Lana Wachowski’s way of steering us in the right direction?
Within the lore of the Matrix world, the “source” can bear multiple meanings. The “source code” often refers to the green digital rain. However, The Source is at the heart of the real world in Machine City, which is the last place we saw Neo and Trinity before they met their demise… or so we thought.
The official poster for Matrix Resurrections could be hiding a monumental secret. Neo and Trinity are still alive under intense machine control, and the only way to save them (and the world) is to take the fight to the source of robot domination.
What is the Source in The Matrix?
Previously, at Inverse we’ve looked at The Biological Interface Program. Revealed through The Matrix Online, Neo and Trinity are seemingly the results of continuous experiments to translate human DNA into Machine code without any imperfections or glitches. This would allow either of them to interact with technology beyond the simulation of the Matrix itself (which explains how Neo can stop Sentinels in the real world).
There have been several iterations of The One as new versions of the simulation arrived. Yet, Neo is specifically referred to as The Anomaly in The Matrix Reloaded. The abilities of Neo are exponential and far beyond what any freed mind has seen in their lifetime. He is able to transfer abilities into the real world, albeit with difficulty, in Reloaded and Revolutions. It is clear the Machines would gain immense insight from truly understanding the maximum potential of this One.
The intentions of Neo’s world in The Matrix Resurrections are still shrouded in mystery, but with this tagline, its purpose is starting to take shape. We know from the first trailer that “Thomas Anderson” is taking prescribed blue pills in a bid to keep his true nature sedated within the simulation. Neo is unaware of his previous feats, his mind imprisoned behind the facade of “normal” existence. However, he can sense there is something off.
Matrix 4: Return to the Source
New characters like Jessica Henwick’s “Bunny” refer to Thomas as Neo, showing their awareness of his true potential. But how did they infiltrate this prison-like simulation to begin with? We know that Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Niobe is due to return and a lone ship flying through the desolate real world in the Resurrections trailer could be the Machine City itself.
If the legend of Neo’s final act was described to the survivors post-Revolutions, then it makes sense anyone looking to find him would go to his last known location. Return to the source…
The Machine peace treaty achieved by Neo in Revolutions was broken by The Architect in The Matrix Online, which could mean another conflict is on the brink. Who better to lead the resistance than the most powerful people in the real world? Neo’s powers are seen to take on new, thrilling forms in the Resurrections trailer, further indicating just how unstoppable he could be if he was fully unleashed. By returning to the source, could this just be another form of Machine-based control? Are they the true masterminds behind this off-kilter version of the Matrix?
On December 22, The Matrix Resurrections will reveal all.
