Summary

• The Matrix 5 may break canon to start fresh, accepting inevitable plot holes for a better story.
• Connecting to some films while detaching from others can save the franchise in Matrix 5.
• A soft reboot for Matrix 5 is necessary to prioritize story over previous films' canon restrictions.

At this point, it's almost impossible that any future movies in The Matrix series will be able to stick closely to the world that’s already been built. Across four feature-length movies and several spin-off projects such as the Animatrix anthology, The Matrix has formed an extremely complicated and sometimes confusing canon. With their original 1999 movie, the Wachowskis created such a rich and vivid universe that’s proven difficult to uphold over the years, with each new project making slight changes and readjustments that have gradually built towards an unreliable canon. Even the best Matrix movies struggle to adhere to these in-universe rules.

Despite claims at the time of release that The Matrix: Resurrections could be the final installment in the franchise, a fifth Matrix movie is now in production, with Drew Goddard attached to direct. While this is extremely exciting news following the mixed critical reception of Resurrections, there are still valid concerns that Goddard’s movie won’t fit neatly into the canon. If The Matrix 5 brings back old characters from earlier movies, removing the possibility of a complete reboot, it will have many challenges to overcome in the writing stage.The Matrix’s Canon Is Too Restrictive For Matrix 5 Not To Contradict It

The Sequels Made Too Many Changes To The World

Put simply, the canon of The Matrix is simply too restrictive to house so many sequels and spinoffs. There’s a reason that the worldbuilding of the first movie is so universally praised - it reveals just enough to make that particular narrative work, keeping the world feeling rich and lived-in without going too far and opening up the possibility of plot holes. But that’s exactly what happened in the immediate sequels, as the Wachowskis expanded on the world of Zion and fundamentally changed what The Matrix really is. Parts of this worked, but it made a fictional universe that’s unsustainable.

With The Matrix: Resurrections, these changes got even more radical. The meta-commentary on obsessive fandom and Hollywood’s fixation on reboots and sequels may have been effective, but it was fairly damaging to the fabric of the canon. Resurrections rewrites the original trilogy’s ending, giving Neo’s sacrifice a new meaning and retconning much of the subtext that made it so effective. Following this, it’s unclear exactly how The Matrix 5 will be able to follow directly on from Resurrections without betraying the meaning of the original films.

Matrix 5 Must Break The Franchise’s Canon To Be A True Fresh Start

The Sequel Needs To Be A Soft Reboot

Ultimately, the best solution for The Matrix 5 is simply to accept that breaking canon is inevitable. If the writers devote too much time to avoiding plot holes and adhering to the previous films, this would almost certainly have a detrimental effect on the story. While Resurrections was undoubtedly divisive, one thing that it did really well was prioritizing the story above all else. It wasn’t afraid to rewrite the overarching narrative of The Matrix if it served this story well.

That was the main reason that long-term fans of the franchise took issue with it, but it’s also what made it so bold and unique. The Matrix 5 needs to do the same thing if it wants to succeed, understanding that it won’t please everybody. Resurrections’ failure could be good for The Matrix 5 - it doesn’t have to adhere to these new rules that made fans so upset, but can rather carve its own path and go wherever it likes.

Matrix 5 Breaking Canon Doesn’t Mean It Has To Ignore The Other Movies

There Can Still Be Connections To The Original Trilogy

With a franchise like this, the canon is fairly flexible. There have been plenty of scenes that broke The Matrix franchise throughout the sequels, providing details that either contradict existing ones or simply introduce concepts that were previously impossible. Because of this, it’s very difficult to find a version of the canon where everything can exist at the same time. While this annoys several invested fans, the result is actually a franchise where viewers can essentially pick and choose which aspects of the story they consider to be canon.

[Matrix 5] can connect itself to some movies and detach itself from others without too much issue.

Because of this, Matrix 5 isn’t bound by any rules when it comes to integrating itself into this universe. It can connect itself to some movies and detach itself from others without too much issue, allowing it to both break canon and acknowledge its predecessors at the same time. This is arguably the easiest way for Matrix 5 to save the franchise after Resurrections, focusing on the quality of the story that it provides rather than trying to fit neatly into a canon that’s almost impossible to uphold.