Neil Patrick Harris has joined the cast of The Matrix 4

By Chris Gates October 15, 2019

Bet you didn’t see this one coming.

Neil Patrick Harris, star of Doogie Howser, M.D. and How I Met Your Mother has been cast in Lana Wachowski’s upcoming Matrix sequel, Variety reports.

Harris’ role in the fourth Matrix film, which will feature the return of Keanu Reeves as the series’ hero, Neo, is currently unknown. Harris joins Carrie-Anne Moss, who will once again play Matrix femme fatale Trinity, and Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen in the movie.

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While Harris is mostly known for his comedic performances, which include the previously mentioned sitcoms, a villainous turn in Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the titular role in Joss Whedon’s web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, he has showed a more serious side lately via parts like an appearance in 2014’s Gone Girl and a Tony-winning performance in the Broadway version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

The Matrix 4 was announced last August, just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Wachowskis’ groundbreaking sci-fi action film. The fourth installment in the series will be written and directed by Lana Wachowski, who co-directed the original Matrix trilogy with her sister Lily, off of a script by Aleksandar Hemon and the Wachowski’s Cloud Atlas collaborator David Mitchell.

The Matrix 4 doesn’t have a release date, although the film is expected to enter production in early 2020.

News about a potential Matrix sequel leaked last spring, when John Wick director Chad Stahelski said the Wachowskis were working on a follow-up to their flagship franchise. Stahelski was Keanu Reeves’ stunt double on The Matrix, and served as stunt coordinator for the second and third films.

Collectively, the first three Matrix movies have earned more than $1.6 billion at the global box office and spawned numerous video games, comic books, and animated spinoffs. The last Matrix movie, The Matrix: Revelations, hit theaters in 2003. More recently, the first movie returned to theaters this summer in a stunning Dolby Cinema re-release that made the 20-year-old film look better than ever.

Warner Bros. and Lana Wachowski haven’t revealed anything about The Matrix 4‘s plot, but we have some things we’d like to see in the upcoming sequel. Warner Bros., if you’re listening: You know where to find us.

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Aquaman actor Abdul-Mateen joins Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix 4

matrix 4 cast yahya abdul mateen keanu reeves carrie anne moss aquaman black manta

Aquaman's Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is going from the deep seas to a post-apocalyptic future ruled by sentient machines. The actor is reportedly in talks to join Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in the next installment of The Matrix franchise.

Best known for playing Black Manta in Aquaman, Abdul-Mateen is reportedly the front-runner for a starring role in The Matrix 4, the still-untitled fourth chapter in the sci-fi film series. According to Variety, director Lana Wachowski met with various actors over the last week, and Abdul-Mateen is in the final stages of negotiation to take on the unidentified role.

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Joker sits at a table while Harley Quin sits behind him.

One of the most anticipated releases of the fall, Joker: Folie à Deux, is being met with a somewhat cooler reception than the first film. If you're looking for great content about Joker and Harley Quinn, though, the movie theater is not the only place you can find it.

Timed to the movie's release, Hoopla, an online reading service that partners with local libraries, has announced that they have a collection of comics and other media related to the superhero spinoff. In fact, they have an entire Joker collection that features Joker and Harley Quinn comics, as well as the soundtracks to both films and Harlequin, Lady Gaga's new album, which was released to tie in with the film. The collection also includes Hoopla's exclusive collection of DC Manga, including Joker: One Operation Joker. In total, the collection includes more than 50 comic books and albums to explore.

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Joker sits at a table while Harley Quin sits behind him.

This weekend, Joaquin Phoenix returns to his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker, in Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux. Ostensibly a sequel to Joker, Folie à Deux is less a continuation of the story begun in the 2019 film and more a denouement of it. It takes big swings, but it seems to have lost the plot. That's largely because, like its predecessor, it lacks a basic understanding of the titular character. The critical and expected commercial underperformance of Folie à Deux hints that Hollywood has done what it always has and milked every last drop from the Joker cow.

Once upon a time, the Clown Prince of Crime was an icon of the comic book world, a titan of entertainment with more lives than Catwoman. People used words like "complex" and "three-dimensional" to describe him, separating him from the cheap villains he once shared the spotlight with. A few years ago, the Joker was a precious role that earned Oscars for his performers and elevated any project it was a part of. Flash-forward to now, and what you have is a ghost of what once was, a joke that has been told so many times that it no longer has a punch line. Because, now that the Joker has gone from villain to antihero to champion of the oppressed, what's left for him to be other than a joke himself?
Let the Joker laugh