Drew Goddard Is The Perfect Choice For A New Matrix Movie (And His Filmography Proves It)

The most unexpected movie news of the day (and maybe the week, TBD) hit the internet today: Drew Goddard is attached to co-write and direct a fifth "The Matrix" film for Warner Bros. Discovery. It's unexpected largely because Lana Wachowski — one of the key creative voices of this franchise, a director of the original trilogy (alongside her sister, Lilly), and the solo director of 2021's "The Matrix Resurrections" — is stepping into an executive producer role this time around, since Goddard reportedly came to the studio with an idea for a new entry in this franchise that excited the folks in charge. On the surface, he may seem like a somewhat odd choice to usher "The Matrix" into the future (to be fair, these blockbuster movies feel so personal that anybody whose last name isn't "Wachowski" seems like a somewhat odd choice), but several projects in Goddard's filmography lead us to believe he could be a great choice to take the reins.

His feature directorial debut, 2012's "The Cabin in the Woods," seems like it's going to be one thing (in that instance, a typical horror flick) before shifting gears entirely into something else (through some jaw-dropping world-building, the movie becomes a whip-smart commentary on horror tropes). His 2018 film "Bad Times at the El Royale" is full of surprising revelations: Jon Hamm's character appears to be a vacuum cleaner salesman only to actually be an FBI agent, Jeff Bridges' priest is actually a former bank robber, and the owner of the El Royale hotel is revealed to be a former military sniper. And NBC's "The Good Place," which counted Goddard as an exec producer and occasional director, had a "holy crap" twist in its first season that's among the best in TV history.

"The Matrix" is not a twist-heavy film franchise, per se, but it is about a world that appears to operate one way, only for the truth to illuminate an entirely different scenario that's been going on the whole time. Goddard's experience weaving that theme throughout his work bodes well for his ability to incorporate it into this new "Matrix" movie, and perhaps even expand the franchise into exciting new directions after Lana Wachowski left things somewhat up in the air with the ending of "The Matrix Resurrections."

As a writer, Goddard also has a keen understanding of many types of genre projects. After cutting his teeth on shows like "Buffy," "Angel," and "Alias," he wrote for the acclaimed drama series "Lost," stepped into the world of Marvel TV with "Daredevil" and "The Defenders," and wrote movies like the original "Cloverfield," "World War Z," and Ridley Scott's "The Martian." He's a well-rounded, extraordinarily smart storyteller who has an excellent foundation on which to build a new "Matrix" film and launch the franchise into a brand new era.

We spoke about Goddard's new gig and plenty of other film and TV news on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast, which you can listen to below:

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