The future of the series is in doubt following The Matrix Resurrections, but here's how the franchise can be saved with the next outing.

The Matrix franchise appears all but done after 2021's The Matrix Resurrections, but there is a simple way to reboot it. From its enigmatic marketing campaign to its incredible visual effects, style and fashion, The Matrix hit the zeitgeist in a big way in 1999. While plenty of action movies like Swordfish or The One attempted to rip it off, the first film was in a league of its own.

That's what - in hindsight - makes the saga's rapid fall from grace so startling. Audiences were majorly hyped for 2003's back-to-back sequels The Matrix Reloaded and Revelations, which continued and then concluded the series respectively. That year also saw multimedia tie-ins such as the Enter The Matrix video game and The Animatrix anime. The latter was arguably the only one to receive broadly positive reviews, with The Matrix sequels considered bloated disappointments upon release; time hasn't been much kinder to them either.

Related: Why Neo Didn't Kill The Architect In The Matrix Reloaded

The hype returned once more for The Matrix Resurrections. Lana Wachowski went solo on this fourth outing, which brought back both Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, but it received tepid reviews and was a box-office flop. In light of the sequel's failure and The Wachowskis' seemingly done with the property, it appears the saga is done. The Matrix Resurrections was never intended to set up further sequels, but the final scene - where Neo and Trinity announce their intention to "reboot" the Matrix - is an easy jump-off point for a new movie to start from.

In many ways, The Matrix Resurrections feels like an epilogue that gave Neo and Trinity the ending they had earned. With their arcs closed, The Matrix Rebooted is the logical set forwards. Neo and Trinity's remake of The Matrix offers future filmmakers a clean slate. While exploring the origin story of Morpheus or even the 60-year gap between Revelations and Resurrections might be tempting, the franchise needs to evolve beyond its past.

Of course, what form The Matrix 5/Rebooted should take the saga is dependent on the story the next director wants to tell. Presumably, Trinity's rebooting of the Matrix will attempt to be some kind of utopia, but as The Architect previously stated, the human mind tends to reject "perfection." Actually exploring this, where a new protagonist senses their ideal world is a sham and starts to fight back against it, could be fertile ground. Another idea could see a civil war in the real world, between those who want to destroy the Matrix and the Machines for good, and those who see it as a necessary evil. The series needs a little time to rest, but when - or even if - The Matrix Rebooted ever happens, it must remind audiences why they fell in love with the series to start with.

Next: Neo Could've Lost If The Analyst Was In Matrix Reloaded (Not The Architect)

It's pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that's out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he'd like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site. A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games; he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU - where Hawkeye is clearly the best character - to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle. He's super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman.