Laurence Fishburne has played numerous iconic roles throughout his career. However, none of them has established him in pop culture the way Morpheus, the philosophical, calm, trench-coat-clad mentor, who welcomed audiences into the rabbit hole in 1999.
However, behind the performance is a truth Fishburne rarely discussed: ‘The Matrix’ physically broke him down. And now, when the franchise moves on without him, the actor does not look back with bitterness, but with a combination of gratitude and pain.
Laurence Fishburne Opens Up About Shaping ‘The Matrix’ Universe
Fishburne eventually lifted the veil on what it actually required to make the groundbreaking action sequences in ‘The Matrix’ during an appearance at the Marrakech Film Festival. It wasn’t glamorous, smooth, or fun. It simply hurt. “We were essentially the first Western actors to work in the Hong Kong style,” Fishburne explained. Yuen Woo-ping, the martial arts guru, did not adapt his training for Hollywood actors. He handled them as true warriors.
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Fishburne described the experience in blunt, physical terms: “They trained us like professional athletes… and that’s when I realized why they pay athletes so much money, because professional athletes are in pain. All. The. Time.” This wasn’t just soreness. It was a routine, a battle to be as real as possible. Long before motion-capture, long before wire-fu became mainstream, the cast of The Matrix was pioneering a new hybrid of East-meets-West filmmaking.
And Fishburne forced through all the bruises and all the strained muscles to create a character that would shape a whole generation. ‘The Matrix’ literally transformed the vocabulary of action movies: bullet time, wirework, philosophical sci-fi, and cyberpunk images. ““There’s no movie that comes after The Matrix that’s a sci-fi action or fantasy movie that’s not been influenced by it.” Fishburne said. “It’s everywhere.” He’s right. The Marvel Cinematic Universe would not be the way it is without ‘The Matrix‘. But to him, it was a costly and very physical price.
Laurence Fishburne’s Honest Take On Returning To ‘The Matrix’
Despite helping create the very soul of the franchise, Fishburne was not invited to ‘The Matrix Resurrections‘ in 2021. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II played a redefined, allegorical version of Morpheus, a creative decision that continues to baffle many fans. However, Fishburne says there is no hostility. During New York Comic Con, he disclosed that he had contacted Lana Wachowski during early development: “I said, ‘Thank you very much,’ and Lana said, ‘Thank you very much, I’ll think about it’. And that was that.”
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No drama. No resentment. Just a door gently closing. And now, as ‘The Matrix 5’ is officially in development with director Drew Goddard (the first in the series not directed by the Wachowskis), the question is the same: Will Laurence Fishburne come back? His answer is refreshingly grounded: “It depends on how good it is… If it’s great, yeah. If it makes sense.” Fishburne doesn’t have to reclaim Morpheus. He desires contentment, not show.
It is a sharp contrast to the culture of never-ending franchise re-inventions, where characters are brought back just because they are popular. The fact that Fishburne does not want to come back without solid ground proves his respect for the character. To him, ‘The Matrix‘ is a journey that has been completed. And while he acknowledges the franchise’s uneven history, from the divisive sequels to the underperformance of ‘Resurrections’, he knows what it meant to audiences.
