'The Matrix Resurrections' Is Both a Reboot and a Sequel to the Original 'Matrix' Trilogy

Red pill or blue pill? Learn the truth about the Matrix or return to life as usual? That is the offer Neo is given in the original Matrix, and after three films and almost two decades since what many thought was the saga's conclusion, a trailer for the fourth Matrix movie, The Matrix Resurrections, has been released.

Our main characters return for this new installment, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity for the film.

The Matrix Resurrections serves as both a reboot and a continuation of the original story, following its characters after the events of The Matrix Revolutions. But like the original films in the series, Revolutions leaves a lot up in the air and many questions to be answered.

If it's been a while since you've seen The Matrix films, here's your refresher on how the trilogy ends before the new movie releases on Dec. 22, 2021.

The inaugural film in the series, The Matrix, was originally released in 1999, and it wasn't long before the sci-fi thriller became a major talking point of the era.

In The Matrix, our main character is a computer programmer who goes by the alias Neo. He's approached by Morpheus and offered a choice: to learn the truth about the simulation that controls him (and most other humans) or to return to the life he's always known.

Neo chooses the red pill and experiences the Matrix, joining forces with the rebels looking to free humankind from the simulation.

The film ends with Neo accepting he is "the One" prophesied to save humankind, and while we don't see the liberation of the humans in the first film, our protagonist reenters the Matrix and tells the machines controlling it that he will show humans "a world where anything is possible."

Throughout the course of the trilogy, Neo and his team learn that their mission is part of a carefully crafted simulation that has been repeated six times already — but with Neo at its helm, this time proves different. His love of Trinity is what sets his mission apart from previous ones, and ultimately, it's also what leads to its success.

The humans and machines eventually reach a truce, and any human who wishes to be freed from the Matrix can be, without question.

Neo was carried away by the machines to Machine City at the conclusion of The Matrix Revolutions, though what exactly happens to him afterward remains unclear. As the Matrix reboots at the end of the trilogy, the trailer for the fourth film suggests that Neo could be trapped in an entirely new simulation — giving the film an opportunity to serve as both a reboot and a sequel.

What exactly is happening to Neo? Matrix fans will have to wait until Dec. 22, 2021 to find out.