Plenty happened in the story of The Matrix after the original movie trilogy ended. The final Matrix movie, The Matrix Revolutions, released in 2003 to mostly underwhelming reviews, wrapping up Neo's story in a hail of green code and slow-motion. The conclusion saw Trinity die in the process of taking Neo to the leader of the machine army, where the figure of prophecy promised to defeat Agent Smith in exchange for the machines ending their war with Zion. Neo succeeds, but dies in the process, and a fragile peace is born, with the Matrix being rebooted and those still inside promised the choice of freedom.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will be portraying a younger version of Morpheus, while ing figures such as The Merovingian are also slated to return. The fourth Matrix movie's plot remains a closely-guarded secret, but it can be said with confidence that the optimistic ending of the original trilogy didn't quite stick, and Neo is brought back to put things right.
However, the story of The Matrix has already been continued, mostly in The Matrix Online. This MMORPG, made with some superficial involvement from the creators of The Matrix (the Wachowskis, not The Architect), was sold as the official continuation of the movie trilogy beyond The Matrix Revolutions. The game has since been closed due to a lack of players, and it remains to be seen whether The Matrix 4 will take these developments into , but with Paul Chadwick taking over the story, The Matrix Online was certainly intended as a genuine continuation at the time. Here are all of the major story points:
Neo's Fate
Although Neo dies in The Matrix Revolutions, his avatar is said to live on in The Matrix Online, and a mad rush ensues to collect the pieces of The One's projected self, and kidnap the "Shapers" who are able to manipulate these scattered leftovers. According to The Oracle, Neo had the foresight to realize that the world would one day require his power again, so he split fragments of himself inside the Matrix that could one day be used to keep the peace he created in the Matrix movies.
Furthermore, the game confirms that the Machines never returned the remains of Neo's body after the movie trilogy, leading Morpheus and other Zionists to question what the enemy had done with their martyr. However, the Machines continue to protest their innocence, stating unequivocally that they didn't recycle Neo's physical form. Even more curiously, Trinity's body was also never recycled, and this gives both characters a route back into the franchise if The Matrix 4 does somehow follow on from The Matrix Online.
The EPN & Cypherites
The rebooted Matrix and Neo's death gives way to two directly opposed cult-like followings, one conceptually based around the red pill, and one aligned to the blue. The EPN (E Pluribus Neo) are dedicated to continuing the work Neo started and honoring the sacrifice he made in The Matrix Revolutions. This group believe that everyone should be allowed to exit the Matrix, if they so wish, and this aim continues what audiences were lead to believe would happen after the movie trilogy. The EPN are led by Kid, the character played by Clayton Watson in Reloaded and Revolutions, and his training under Morpheus is shown in a Matrix sequel comic. Problematically, there exists a more extreme offshoot of the group, who believe citizens should be freed whether they choose so or not.
Rather than Neo, the Cypherites follow Cypher's ideals from the original Matrix movie. Fans will this character was originally one of Morpheus' crew, and came to regret his decision to take the red pill, striking a deal with Agent Smith to be returned to the Matrix in exchange for spying on his friends. Cypher came to believe ignorance was bliss, and the Cypherites also adopt this credo, seeking reinsertion into the virtual world and subservience to the Machines. It is subsequently revealed that the Cypherites are being led by a machine-built program disguised as a human called Cryptos. Like the EPN, the Cypherites have a more extreme faction within, who attempt to forcibly reinsert freed folks back into the Matrix.
The War Between Zion & The Machines Continues
The Matrix Online confirms that an era of peace did follow in the wake of the original movie trilogy, but it was a tenuous one doomed to fail. Parties on both sides desperately tried to maintain the hard-earned civility, with the Machines even creating a new, more friendly, Agent to act as a liaison between the two. Nevertheless, tensions constantly bubbled between Zion and the Machines, with incidents such as the Cypherite leader twist and Neo's missing remains fostering mistrust between the two sides, but the final straw came when the Machines discovered Zion was preparing for another war. Apparently, it was believed that the truce would only last for 7 years, so humans began making preparations by building a second settlement away from the eyes of the Machines and stockpiling EMP weapons. As far as the Machines were concerned, this violated the of the agreement made following The Matrix Revolutions and a second war kicked off.
The General and New Agents
According to the story of The Matrix Online, the Machine General who lead the final assault on Zion in The Matrix Revolutions was none too pleased that the fighting had come to an end without the humans' complete defeat, and he attempted to break the of the agreement by continuing the attack even after Neo had defeated Agent Smith. Disappointed that his side had opted for a peaceful solution, The General became an exiled program, gathered other Machines loyal to his cause, and launched a covert campaign to reignite hostilities between man and robot.
In pursuit of this goal, The General creates powered-up Agents from the fragments of Neo's digital self and later attacks both the Zionists and the Machines by using Red-Eyed Agents. These new enemies are actually revealed to be no more than exiled programs disguised as Agents to try and stoke tension and break the truce. By combining them with Neo's residual self-image, Red-Eyed Agents can be upgraded further and turned into N30 Ag3ents that bear a resemblance to Keanu Reeves' famous character. At various points in The Matrix Online, The General comes under attack from Zion, his fellow Machines and The Merovingian.
In one of The General's dastardly schemes, he kidnaps Sati, the child placed under The Oracle's care in the Matrix movies. Following this abduction, Oracle's right-hand man, Seraph, goes on a spree of seemingly random attacks, but his efforts eventually unveil the leader of the Cypherists as a Machine. Seraph's return also reveals that the Machines have been using Agent Smith's techniques to rewrite the minds of humans in Zion who took the red pill.. Once Sati is rescued, both she and Seraph return to The Oracle's side.
Morpheus Goes Rogue & "Dies"
So enraged does Morpheus become about Neo's missing body, that he embarks on a personal terrorist campaign, using bombs that force people still plugged into the Matrix to see their world for what it really is without the usual choice of two different-colored pills. Staunchly under the belief that the Machines are holding onto his former friend's corpse, Morpheus becomes a wanted man for his guerrilla attacks, hunted by humans, Machines and exiles alike.
In a devastating twist, Laurence Fishburne's famous mentor figure is taken out by a mysterious and powerful program known as The Assassin, assumed to have been hired by The Merovingian. After a long period of hunting down, The Assassin is finally finished off by Niobe, Jada Pinkett-Smith's character in the Matrix trilogy. The General later creates a digital fabrication of Morpheus for his own ends, but this program manages to gain some level of self-awareness, outgrowing his original purpose and fighting back against his own deletion, possibly creating an alternate version of Morpheus.
The Merovingian Is A Main Villain
The real villain of The Matrix Online isn't The General, the Cypherites, or even the Machines, but The Merovingian - Lambert Wilson's character that appeared in the Matrix sequel movies. The leader of the exiles survives a t effort by the Vamps and Lupines to end his reign as the chief of the digital underworld, and he even manages to bring The General under his sway as the game progresses, hoping to achieve his ultimate goal of getting rid of The Oracle and thus consolidating his influence within the Matrix. The Merovingian is also very likely to be the one responsible for the murder of Morpheus, although the true nature of The Assassin is never explicitly revealed. Since The Assassin appeared to be using Corrupted exiles to destabilize the very fabric of the Matrix, The Merovingian could be looking to force another reboot.
After uncovering The Merovingian's sinister designs, Niobe dedicates herself to his destruction, and this aim is quickly adopted by Zion as a whole, who go so far as to team up with The General to win. The Merovingian comes unnervingly close to assassinating The Oracle after painstakingly building a kill code for her, but he is foiled by Kid.
Anome's "Unlimit" Group
During the alliance between Zion and The General, one of Niobe's people, a man called Anome, decides to go rogue and steals a Machine upgrade The General had planned to give Zion for their t operation against The Merovingian. The emergence of this new threat creates an unlikely alliance between Zion and The Merovingian, with the primary intention of rescuing Niobe. After stealing more power-ups, Anome forms the group Unlimit, who use the concoctions to give themselves new abilities, visually represented by bright green eyes. Anome's rise makes him an enemy of everyone in The Matrix - Zion, the Machines and the Merovingian - and the villain is eventually killed by Agents.
