5 Matrix Projects Will Smith Could Be Teasing

Will Smith and The Matrix are connected once again. The actor and hip-hop star famously passed on the role of Neo in 1999’s original Matrix movie, opting to co-star alongside Kevin Kline and Salma Hayek in Wild Wild West. The Matrix went on to become a money-making franchise that spawned several sequels as well as a recent reboot in The Matrix Resurrections, while Wild Wild West bombed spectacularly at the box office. But that doesn’t mean Will Smith is done with The Matrix just yet.

A new social media post by Will Smith channels The Matrix, leading fans to speculate that Smith is starring alongside Keanu Reeves in Matrix 5 to Smith replacing Reeves outright as the new Neo. That’s the obvious answer to the riddle Will Smith has dropped on his legion of fans, but there are plenty of other scenarios at play here. When you factor in the type of showman that Will Smith is, along with his ties to Matrix and the knowledge of Matrix 5 already in development, it’s the perfect recipe for social media engagement.

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Let us do the dirty work for you and pinpoint the five Matrix-related projects Will Smith is most likely teasing. While they may look like educated guesses on the surface, we’re certain we’ll be closer to the truth than you might think.

A Super Bowl commercial starring Will Smith and The Matrix

The NFL is on the verge of its annual playoffs, which means we’re getting closer to the Super Bowl and its onslaught of commercials. The Super Bowl takes place on Sunday, February 9th, so we’re about a month away from deciding who the NFL champion will be. That also means we’re a month out from a slew of expensive commercials being the talk of all the Super Bowl parties. A month may seem early to start the promotion and marketing, but when there are millions of dollars at stake, being early can be a good thing.

Will Smith has been vocal about passing up The Matrix, even addressing it in a YouTube video back in 2019. Perhaps Warner Bros. Pictures decided this was the perfect opportunity to tackle the Will Smith/Neo fan debate head-on with a quick Super Bowl commercial featuring Smith as Neo. Keanu Reeves could even make an appearance to have the originator meet the imposter, so to speak.

Will Smith partners with Matrix for new music

A generation of fans only know Will Smith as the star of their favorite blockbuster movies, but there was a time when he was more widely known as an award-winning music artist. A lot of his best-known movies have featured Smith on their soundtracks, proving he’s never given up the itch to make music. Those musical outings have come sparingly over the years, save for special guest appearances to tag team with his son Jaden or a surprise appearance at the BET Awards. So what if this Matrix tease was for a new music video that borrowed elements of The Matrix?

It’s not hard to envision a music video that uses the Matrix computer screen prompt in some manner, as Will Smith raps over a catchy beat. Whether this music is tied to Matrix 5 is another matter entirely, or if Smith is merely borrowing the franchise’s sci-fi themes for a visually appealing music video.

Will Smith is doing an A.I. collaboration

On the sadder range of the guessing spectrum is Will Smith teaming with an A.I. company. The Matrix foreshadows some of the artificial intelligence themes that have popped up in recent years, with the Matrix being an actual simulated reality full of intelligent machines. We’ve seen the rise of A.I. and technology to bring dead actors and singers back to life digitally, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT to change the way people approach writing. Whether it’s NFTs or artificial intelligence, the Hollywood elite can’t help but dive into a “get rich quick” scheme.

Admittedly, Will Smith doing an A.I./crypto collaboration is lower on our bingo board than some of the other Matrix possibilities, but it is worth mentioning. You can never put it past a famous person to consider ways to make extra money, even if it’s something as fishy as A.I. But it would be out of character for Smith after all the goodwill he’s garnered following his historic slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.

Matrix 5 starring Will Smith

A lot of the early speculation points to Will Smith starring in a Matrix movie, only 20-plus years later. Lana Wachowski, who directed 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, will executive produce Matrix 5 with The Cabin in the Woods and Bad Times at the El Royale writer-director Drew Goddard behind the camera. There haven’t been any updates on the fifth Matrix movie since Warner Bros. Pictures confirmed it in April. One would assume stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss would return for another installment, but perhaps it’s time for some new blood in the Matrix.

However, shortly after Will Smith dropped his social media post about The Matrix, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety heard from sources that Smith has no involvement with The Matrix movies, bringing that bit of speculation to a quick end. Though nothing has been officially confirmed.

Nothing having to do with The Matrix at all

Our last scenario throws a curveball by not having Will Smith involved with anything having to do with The Matrix. Smith may have seen an opening to draw curious eyes to his social media post by reminding everyone that he almost appeared in the original Matrix. Then use the attention to promote something totally different in a shock-and-awe moment.

It’s definitely something that’s on the table as a possibility. It’s a dangerous game to play when you get your audience’s hopes up and then throw them a curveball of this magnitude. We’ll have to wait and see how long Will Smith keeps us all waiting for an answer to his big Matrix tease.