Yahya Abdul-Mateen II who played Black Manta in Aquaman is joining Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s reboot of The Matrix directed by Lana Wachowski. He will have one of the lead roles in the pic which is expected to begin production at the onset of 2020. It’s speculated that Mateen’s role will be that of a young Morpheus, originally portrayed by Laurence Fishburne in the Matrix movies.
Mateen will join original franchise cast members Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.
Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell are writing the script. Wachowski is producing with Grant Hill. Lilly Wachowski, a co-director, co-writer and co-EP in the original franchise, is said not to be involved in the fourthquel.
The original franchise racked up $1.6 billion, but the Wachowski movies have taken a toll at the box office since the last Matrix in 2003 with such big budget misfires out of Warner Bros. as Jupiter Ascending ($184M global B.O. to $176M production cost), Cloud Atlas (which Warners distributed stateside, but did not finance at $147M budget for a $138M global gross), and Speed Racer ($94M WW off a $120M pricetag).
Variety first had the news.