Hugo Weaving was originally approached to reprise his role as Agent Smith, but he had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts with other films.

Unlike other productions, no second unit was needed during the action sequences as Lana Wachowski directed all the scenes herself.

This will be the first Matrix film to be shot digitally, unlike the first three films which were shot in Super 35 format.

The first Matrix movie that Lana Wachowski directs alone.

The song in the teaser trailer is “White Rabbit”, which was inspired by the fantasy novel “Alice in Wonderland”. The Matrix (1999) features many references to the Wonderland story.

Will be released 18 years after The Matrix Revolutions (2003).

Under the code name “Project Ice Cream”, the film began production in San Francisco on February 4, 2020.

Filming for the San Francisco portion of the film had just been completed, and the cast and crew had just arrived in Berlin, before a worldwide shutdown of production in mid-March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused delay to shooting for several months.

The first teaser, revealed via WhatIsTheMatrix.com, included a shot of Neo’s pill bottle, prescribed to his Matrix alter ego Thomas Anderson. The medication is called “Ontolofloxin,” a clever tweak on the franchise’s exploration of ontology, i.e. the nature of being.

A shot of Neo in a city street staring toward the sky has to his right a sign for “Corky’s Massage Spa & Salon” featuring a Labrys icon. Corky was the lead character in the Wachowski siblings’ previous film Bound (1996), and she had a Labrys tattoo on her arm.

Was the first Matrix film planned to film in Chicago, Illinois, the home of the Wachowskis and the city on which Edge City (from the first three films) is based. However, due to an ever-growing budget in pre-production, the Chicago location was scrapped from the film’s shooting itinerary.

Brian J Smith, Max Riemelt, Eréndira Ibarra, and Toby Onwumere all starred in Sense8 (2015), which was written and directed by the Wachowskis.

First Matrix movie not to be produced by Joel Silver.

Carrie-Anne Moss and Jessica Henwick previously starred alongside one another in Marvel’s Iron Fist (2017) and Marvel’s The Defenders (2017).

Filming in San Francisco caused irritation amongst residents and city workers after damage was inflicted to buildings and street lights. As in the case of other productions like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (both 2021), the producers had to pay $420,000 to the San Francisco Police Department so they could film in the city.

On March 16, 2020, production on the film was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 16, 2020, Keanu Reeves confirmed filming had resumed in Berlin. Principal photography wrapped on November 11, 2020.