Jada Pinkett Smith In Talks To Return For 'The Matrix 4'

Jada Pinkett Smith may be the captain again. Pinkett Smith is in talks to reprise her role as Captain Niobe in The Matrix 4, joining the recently cast Neil Patrick Harris and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as well as returning stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.Deadline broke the news that Pinkett Smith is negotiations with Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow to reprise the role of Niobe, which she played in The Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. However, the outlet reports that it's "not a done deal yet."

Pinkett Smith first appeared in 2003's The Matrix Reloaded as the captain of the Logos hovercraft, one of the rebels in the war against the machines, and one of the most gifted martial artists inside the Matrix. Pinkett Smith was personally recruited by the Wachowskis to star in The Matrix films, and Niobe was created specifically for her. Her character has appeared in several Matrix properties including the Enter the Matrix videogame and The Matrix Online multiplayer game.

Niobe notably had a romantic past to Morpheus — a past which I wonder will be brought up again with Laurence Fishburne still conspicuously missing from the cast list and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's character purportedly having a "connection" with him (and it's probably not as young Morpheus as the rumors suggest).

Lana Wachowski is returning to direct and co-write the screenplay with Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell. We're bound to learn more details about this film, including additional casting, over the next few months as The Matrix 4 continues to pick up pace. There's no official release date yet for The Matrix 4, but we can likely expect a release sometime in 2022.