Hugo Weaving Says He Accepted Offer For The Matrix 4, Explains Why He Won’t Be In It

Hugo Weaving will not be appearing in The Matrix 4, but he had originally accepted an offer to appear in it and explained why it all fell through in an interview. Weaving spoke with CS.net for a new interview and discussed what happened with his planned role, noting that it had to do with scheduling conflicts. Highlights are below:

On being approached to appear in the film: “Lana Wachowski had rung me at the beginning of last year. We’ve worked together five times, the Wachowski’s and I on three Matrix films, V for Vendetta and Cloud Atlas. I’ve hung out with them all over the world for many, many years. So, yes, Lana was very keen for me to be involved in The Matrix. There was a reading with Keanu, Carrie and myself and a few others from the old family … I loved a lot of it and wasn’t sure about other bits. Ultimately, we talked about it and when the offer came through to do it for Warner’s I said yes the next day and I talked to Lana.”

On scheduling coming into conflict: “I thought we could have done my scenes in May, June and July; and we talked about money and we talked about — they were negotiating. And we were all pretty much sorted and agreed on dates and it was all fine, but then Lana decided she didn’t think it was going to work. So, she pulled the plug on the negotiations. That’s where it ended up. She basically didn’t feel that my commitment to the National Theatre was going to fit in with the dates that she had in mind for me.”

On regretting not being able to appear: “It was a shame in one way that I couldn’t be with them all in Berlin, but that was her call. So, that was it really. I know they then started shooting in San Francisco and they were going to shoot in Chicago and they ended up starting in Berlin but it was shut down. But they restarted again. I don’t know how they’re going, but, yeah, it would be lovely to be over there to hang out with them all. I’m very fond of Keanu and Carrie. I haven’t seen them for a while. But I look forward to seeing it.”

The film is set to release on April 1st, 2022 and stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Neil Patrick Harris, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Priyanka Chopra, and Brian J. Smith.