LOS ANGELES, Oct 10 — Introduced to the DC Comics film franchise as Black Manta in Aquaman, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will co-star in The Matrix 4, according to Variety.

The third actor to join the cast of The Matrix 4 — and the first newcomer to the sci-fi action franchise — is to be Yahya Abdul-Mateen II of Aquaman, Us and The Get Down.

That’s according to Variety, which pegs Abdul-Mateen II as having been one of several actors that met with franchise co-director Lana Wachowski for the same role this past week.

With franchise leads Keanu Reeves (John Wick movies) and Carrie-Ann Moss (Jessica Jones) returning to their roles as Neo and Trinity respectively, Wachowski is directing solo as sister Lilly is occupied with other projects.

The Lazarus Project and Nowhere Man author Aleksander Hemon and Cloud Atlas novelist David Mitchell are co-writing with Lana.

The Matrix 4 is anticipated to begin filming in February 2020 with a release in 2022.

The original Matrix trilogy, which began with The Matrix in 1999 and ran through 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, generated US$1.6 billion at the worldwide box office (unadjusted for inflation).

Away from theatres, the Wachowskis also commissioned an anthology collection of anime shorts based on and extrapolated from the movies. — AFP-Relaxnews