‘Matrix 4’ Fans Don’t See Agent Smith in the Trailer and Are Kind of Bummed

Fans' rekindled love for Keanu Reeves has pretty much reached its highest point now that The Matrix Resurrections has completed filming and been given a release date. The trailer has revealed a slew of new characters along with some very familiar faces in not just Reeves, but Carrie-Anne Moss as well.

However, fans of the sci-fi series noticed that there were some beloved Matrix staples missing from the fourth installment, like Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving. So will Hugo Weaving be in The Matrix 4?

Unfortunately, Hugo Weaving will not appear in The Matrix Resurrections. The Nigerian-born English actor stated in an interview with Time Out London that he was unable to appear in the film due to a prior theater commitment. He's starring in The Visit, a play written by Tony Kushner that centers on a revenge plot.

It's a real bummer because his character, Agent Smith, is such a huge part of the original series.

Playing a computer algorithm with a singular purpose is a pretty tough role for an actor to pull off in an interesting way. But Hugo Weaving managed to do it in the Matrix series. While in the first movie he serves as an "agent" tasked with destroying rogue programs, in the follow-up films, he becomes an "exile" program, a full-blown computer virus.

What audiences were presented with was less of a cold, calculating computer program and more of a deranged, sinister, and self-serving individual who, by virtue of attempting to enact his own free will, basically contradicts his very hatred of Keanu Reeves' character Neo. Whoa.

Interestingly enough, Smith's character becomes a metaphor for "conformity" and living one's life for others.

He carries a hidden emotion. And that emotion is hate. In the first film, he has a hatred for humanity; he describes humans as "self-replicating viruses" whose only goal is to destroy their environments and move on to the next ecosystem to repeat the pattern.

This is pretty ironic, considering what happens to Agent Smith.

He becomes a computer virus and copies himself ad infinitum to different programs and "blue pills" in the Matrix, basically rendering them copies of himself. He becomes the very thing that he has criticized humanity for, but the difference between Neo and Smith is the singular characteristic that distinguishes humans from machines — a potential for love.

Smith's hatred comes from either his unwillingness or inability to love, which is why he wants to destroy that emotion for others, hence his work in the Matrix to destroy everything around him.

Neo, on the other hand, is full of love, not just for the fellow humans he's attempting to rescue, but in the relationship with Trinity. The only thing Neo's trying to get people to "conform" to is a life full of love.

It's real hippie stuff for a movie all about machines and gun violence.

Also missing from The Matrix 4 is Laurence Fishburne, who says he was not invited to be in the movie but wishes everyone involved in the project great success with it.

But why didn't they invite Morpheus, one of the coolest characters from the flicks, back to the movie?

Polygon thinks it might have to do with a story arc from an online Matrix video game that was released years ago. Seriously, an MMO might have something to do with it. Go figure.

The Matrix Resurrections debuts on Dec. 22, 2021.

Are you excited to check it out?