Beginning with the debut of the original film (simply titled The Matrix) in 1999, The Matrix series has become one of the most popular science fiction series of the 20th century and created bonafide stars out of its main cast (including Keanu Reeves as the protagonist Neo, Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith, Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, and Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity).
Considered a sci-fi movie gamechanger, The Matrix remains to be one of the most popular movies of all time (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
The first film was a tour-de-force at the box office, raking in an impressive $467.2 million against a budget of $63 million.
While the popular reception was very positive, the film also did well with the Academy, winning four academy awards for Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects.
Directed and written by the Wachowskis, The Matrix was the second film to be directed by the dynamic duo, following their successful debut feature, Bound (1996).
Since then, the Matrix film series has had four installments in total: The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), and lastly, The Matrix Resurrections (2021), which acted as a somewhat of a revival for the franchise, which laid dormant for a period of 18 years.
The Matrix film series, starring Keanu Reeves, spawned three sequels, two of which were released in 2003 and the third one 18 years later in 2021 (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
The Matrix series takes place in a fictional world where a sentient race of machines has emerged victorious in a war against humans. In doing so, the machines have placed humanity in pods to extract energy from them while linking their minds to a virtual world called “The Matrix.”
Christina Ricci plays a new character in The Matrix Resurrections, which takes place sixty years after The Matrix Revolutions, where the machines and the humans reach a compromise where humans can leave The Matrix if they wish.
The fourth installment in The Matrix film franchise, The Matrix Resurrections, is set sixty years after The Matrix Revolutions (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
How did Christina Ricci Become Famous?
Christina Ricci was born in 1980 in the sunny city of Santa Monica, California. She began pursuing an acting career at a young age, as she secured her first film role in the 1990 film Mermaids, where she played the role of Kate Flax, the youngest daughter of the protagonist Rachel Flax, played by popstar Cher.
Christina Ricci made her film debut at the age of nine in the 1990 family comedy-drama Mermaids, starring Cher and Winona Ryder (Credit: Orion Pictures)
She followed this role with one of her most iconic performances as Wednesday Addams in the 1991 film version of the Addams Family, which was released to commercial and critical success.
Ricci’s performance was repeatedly mentioned as a highlight of the film and its sequel, The Addams Family Values (1993).
She followed that role up with the lead role of Kat Harvey in the live-action adaptation of Casper (1995), which received mixed reviews, although it still managed to gross $287.9 million at the box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
Christina Ricci landed her first lead role in the live-action adaptation of Casper in 1995 (Credit: Universal Pictures)
After 1997, at the age of 17, Ricci decided she wanted to transition into more adult roles following her performance in Disney’s That Darn Cat (1997).
She realized this goal with her role as the sexually curious Wendy Hood in The Ice Storm (1997), which was directed by Ang Lee and released to critical acclaim.
Her most acclaimed role of this era came with her role as Dede in The Opposite Sex (1998), which earned her a nomination for a Golden Globe Best Actress.
Christina Ricci received her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her role in the 1998 romantic black comedy The Opposite Sex (Credit: Sony Pictures Classics)
She spent the next decade appearing in a variety of films and television roles, receiving praise for her work in The Laramie Project (2002), Pumpkin (2002), and particularly for the critically acclaimed Monster (2003), where she starred as Selby Wall, the best friend of the serial killer and prostitute Aileen Wuornos (played by Charlize Theron).
While Ricci didn’t receive any academy award nominations for the performance, in the acceptance speech for her academy award for best actress for the role of Wuornos, Theron claimed that Ricci was “the unsung hero of this film.”
Following this, Ricci focused on her work in television and continued to appear in popular television shows before appearing in her role in The Matrix Resurrections in 2021.
Christina Ricci starred opposite Charlize Theron in the 2003 biographical crime drama Monster (Credit: Newmarket Films)
How Was Christina Ricci Cast in The Matrix Resurrections?
In the Matrix Resurrections, Ricci plays the small role of Gwyn de Vere, a top-level executive of the gaming company where Thomas Anderson (Neo) works, following having his memories wiped when he sacrifices himself at the end of The Matrix Revolutions.
Gwyn de Vere is arrogant and smarmy and pushes Anderson to work on The Matrix 4, a new videogame that Anderson is forced to complete, or else he loses his job at the company.
Christina Ricci plays Gwyn de Vere, a business executive at Thomas’ video game company, in The Matrix Resurrections (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
The character was clearly inspired by the Wachowskis’ own struggles with movie executives to create a fourth Matrix movie, which the pair had always stated that they were unwilling to do.
Despite their reluctance to continue the series, Lana Wachowski finally decided to produce a fourth film in the series, citing the passing of her mother and father as the reason for “resurrecting” the characters of Neo and Trinity.
Christina Ricci’s character in the movie is said to be inspired by the Wachowskis’ own struggles with movie executives to create a fourth Matrix movie (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
At a panel at the Berlin International Literature Festival, she extrapolated on this reasoning stating “I couldn’t have my mom and dad… yet suddenly I had Neo and Trinity, arguably the two most important characters in my life. It was immediately comforting to have these two characters alive again.”
Despite this, her sister Lilly Wachowski refused to take part in the fourth film, stepping away from the project early in its development cycle.
Lana Wachowski solely directed The Matrix Resurrections, the first in The Matrix franchise without her sister Lilly Wachowski (Credit: Sara De Boer / startraksphoto)
How Tall is Christina Ricci?
Christina Ricci is 5ft ½ in. or 1.55m.
How Old is Christina Ricci?
Born on February 12, 1980, Christina Ricci is currently 42 years old.
Christina Ricci has joined the cast of Netflix’s Wednesday as Marilyn Thornhill, the botany teacher at Nevermore Academy and dorm mother of Wednesday and Enid (Credit: joce zerojack / BauerGriffin / INSTA / Cover Images)
Why Wasn’t Laurence Fishburne in The Matrix Resurrections?
One of the burning questions most fans of The Matrix series had when The Matrix Resurrections was announced was what happened to Laurence Fishburne, who portrayed the crucial character of Morpheus in every installment of the film series up until that point.
Laurence Fishburne revealed he had not been called to reprise his role as Morpheus in The Matrix Resurrections (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
In an interview with People Magazine, Fishburne revealed that he had not “been invited” to reprise his role of Morpheus, which was portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a reprogrammed model of Morpheus.
Why Wasn’t Hugo Weaving in The Matrix Resurrections?
Another popular member of the original cast who doesn’t appear in the fourth installment of the series is Hugo Weaving, who played the role of Agent Smith, Neo’s nemesis, in the original trilogy.
Instead, the role of Agent Smith is played by Jonathan Groff, who studied Weaving’s mannerisms from the first films to portray a faithful casting of the role.
Hugo Weaving, who played Agent Smith in The Matrix trilogy, did not reprise his role due to scheduling conflicts (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
Unlike the case with Fishburne, however, Weaving’s reason for not being in the fourth film was due to a simple issue of scheduling conflicts.
Weaving was working on a stage play while The Matrix Resurrections was in production, and while Wachowski wanted him to return to the role of Smith, they were unable to accommodate the dates Weaving requested. What a shame.
Will there be a Matrix 5?
While there hasn’t been any official announcement of a Matrix 5, the ending of the Matrix Resurrections does leave room for a potential sequel.
The Matrix 5 seems unlikely due to the box office failure of The Matrix Resurrections (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
However, unfortunately, the Matrix Resurrections was a box-office failure and only managed to gross $157.3 million against its lofty budget of $190 million.
Due to this, it seems rather unlikely that a fifth film in the series will get made, especially due to the fact that this sci-fi series commands a big-budget production. We’ll have to wait and see!