Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith met a pretty definitive end in the final installment of the Matrix trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions but that reportedly didn’t stop the writers from trying to include him in the upcoming Matrix 4. The character won’t appear in the film, however, according to new interview in Time Out London with Weaving.
In the interview, Weaving noted that he had been approached to appear in the upcoming sequel, but scheduling conflicts (he’s currently appearing in a production of The Visit in London) prevented him from reprising the role: “It’s unfortunate but actually I had this offer [for “The Visit”] and then the offer came from “The Matrix”, so I knew it was happening but I didn’t have dates.”
“I thought [I] could do both and it took eight weeks to work out that the dates would work – I held off on accepting [a role in The Visit during that time]. I was in touch with [director] Lana Wachowski, but in the end she decided that the dates weren’t going to work. So we’d sorted the dates and then she sort of changed her mind. They’re pushing on ahead without me.’”
It looks as though Wachowski wanted to bring back Smith in some form, despite his apparent destruction in the finale of the last film. It’s not a total surprise that we might see the character: Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are each reprising their roles in the film.
In the interview, Weaving also explains why he didn’t reprise his role as Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. (The character appeared briefly in both films, but with actor Ross Marquand portraying the character.)
I like Weaving, but his arguments regarding Marvel don’t line up. He complained a lot after First Avenger about the makeup prosthetics and other things, saying he didn’t want to do the character again, even though he had a 3 film contract. Then Marvel approached him to do voiceover work for the few scenes of the Skull in Infinity War and Endgame. (I didn’t know before the character was entirely CGI.) Weaving apparently expected rising pay for each additional movie, even though there would be no arduous make-up process and just doing some limited VO.
Not sure what’s going on with him, but he sounds a bit too bitter about it. And Ross Marquand did just fine as his replacement.
Elrond for the win.
-An Anonymous Nerd