Hugo Weaving

Laurence Fishburne wasn’t the only big player from ‘The Matrix’ trilogy not to return for the 2021 sequel, as Hugo Weaving was also absent from the flick as villain Agent Smith.

Weaving was actually asked back for the follow-up, though had to turn it down because he was already signed on to ‘The Visit’ which would have clashed.

He recounted: “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’ at the time].

“I was in touch with [‘The Matrix’ 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."

In Hugo’s absence, Jonathan Groff played Agent Smith in ‘The Matrix Resurrections’.