The Matrix Star Still Upset Over Character's Death, Says Wachowskis 'F***ing Lied' About His Fate

The Matrix star Joe Pantoliano has said he was "lied" to by the Wachoskis about his character Cypher's fate.

Speaking at New York Comic Con, Pantoliano revealed that he had specifically requested the film's script be changed so his character survived the movie, in the hope that Cypher could return in the franchise's sequels.

As it is, the last audiences see of Cypher — in any The Matrix film — is the duplicitous character getting electrocuted by a lightning gun and blasted off screen, after he betrays Neo's crew.

"I said, 'Hey, you can't kill me, right? You're not gonna kill me?'" Pantoliano recalled of a phone conversation with the movie's directorial duo, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. "And Lilly said, 'Hey, Lana, he doesn't want us to kill him.' And I heard Lana off camera, knowing that I could hear this, and she said, 'Well, just lie to him and we'll kill him anyway.'"

While it's never definitive that Cypher is dead, the character is never seen again. Cypher is then referenced as being dead in The Matrix Online, the franchise's now-defunct MMO planned by the Wachowskis as a canon continuation of their story. Indeed, Cypher is the inspiration for the Cypherites, an in-game faction founded on the character's beliefs and a desire to return to The Matrix as they hate reality.

"Don't get me started, all right? They brought f***ing Agent Smith back," Pantoliano continued, referencing the fact that Hugo Weaving's character Agent Smith also died in the film, only to return in its sequels. "It's The Matrix!"

As for The Matrix franchise itself, Warner Bros. is reportedly keen to keep the property alive with yet another sequel — despite a mixed response to 2021's The Matrix Resurrections. (IGN scored the movie with a 4/10, calling it "a bunch of really good ideas stacked together to make a bad — and sometimes ugly — film.")

Last year, it was announced that prolific TV writer Drew Goddard — who penned some of the best episodes of Buffy, Alias, Lost, Daredevil, and The Good Place — would write and direct a new The Matrix movie, marking the first time the franchise would be helmed by someone other than one of the Wachowskis. Maybe there's still a chance for Pantoliano after all?

Image credit: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for ReedPop.