A young Morpheus in the making.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II confirmed he’s playing a version of Laurence Fishburne’s “The Matrix” character in the fourth film of the franchise.
Mateen, 35, shared a photo of himself as the character from “The Matrix Resurrections” via Instagram. Simply captioned, “MORPHEUS,” the pic shows the actor rocking a long leather coat, sunglasses and guns blazing.
Fans certainly went wild for the news, with many commenting the fire, clapping hands and surprised face emojis.
The film’s trailer dropped on Sept. 9, giving fans a much-needed taste of the highly anticipated sci-fi flick. The cast is back together 18 years after the third film and features returning stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, as well as Daniel Bernhardt, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Jada Pinkett Smith, Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff and Jessica Henwick.
The trailer showed Mateen’s character giving Neo (Reeves) the infamous red pill and helping him fight attackers.
Fishburne, 60, disclosed earlier this year in an interview with Collider that he wasn’t invited to return to the Wachowskis’ latest film. “I am not in the next ‘Matrix’ movie and you’d have to ask Lana Wachowski why, ’cause I don’t have an answer for that.”
In another profile, the actor told Vulture, “Maybe that will make me write another play. I wish them well. I hope it’s great.”
“It is probably the role that I’ll be best remembered for, which is great; it’s not the only thing I’ll be remembered for, which is better. What I get with him is I’ve got Darth Vader in this hand, and I’ve got Obi-Wan in that hand. I’ve got Bruce Lee, I’ve got Muhammad Ali shuffled in there, and I’ve got kung fu,” Fishburne continued.
“The Matrix Resurrections” will debut in theaters and on HBO Max Dec. 22.