One of the many questions fans have had in the run-up to The Matrix Resurrections is how exactly Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) have returned, after both characters seemingly died at the end of the third film.
The Matrix Revolutions saw Trinity impaled on a number of metal rods, while Neo had his eyes burnt out midway through the film and was last seen being lifelessly carried away after his final battle against Agent Smith.
Yet when we meet them again in Resurrections, both are looking very well indeed, with the only concern being that the star-crossed lovers don’t seem to have any recollection of each other.
It’s given fans plenty to speculate on over the past few months, but now is the time for answers as the belated sequel has finally landed in cinemas around the world. Read on for spoiler-filled details.
The Matrix Resurrections: Neo and Trinity return explained
As many fans had assumed, the coffee shop interaction between Neo and Trinity featured in the Resurrections trailer takes place inside the fabricated world of The Matrix.
Therein, Neo has been relegated back to his civilian identity of Thomas Anderson, now working at a video game developer and struggling with terrifying visions that his therapist tells him are delusional.
Meanwhile, Trinity is known instead as Tiffany, and is living a seemingly perfect family life with a loving husband and three doting children.
Of course, things are quite different in the “real world”, where Neo and Trinity are once again imprisoned in their pods, serving as human batteries for the machines that created the Matrix.
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It is revealed that a machine known as The Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris) was responsible for retrieving their bodies and delicately putting each of them back together.
He describes the process as extremely difficult and very “expensive”, which begs the question how exactly currency works in a world dominated by non-organic beings.
Regardless, The Analyst brought them back after discovering that Neo and Trinity generate the most power when placed in close proximity to each other.
But of course, it is of paramount importance that they must never meaningfully interact, lest they uncover the truth about their world and themselves, thus putting the entire experiment at serious risk.
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