The first trailer for The Matrix Resurrections has arrived, revealing our first look at the fourth installment of the popular movie series. Recently, the trailer debuted at CinemaCon where it was very positively received by those lucky enough to see it at the time. Courtesy of Warner Bros., the new trailer has now made its way online for the rest of us, and if you're a fan of the original trilogy, it's hard not to get excited when you check out the video below.

How this new movie will play into the previous trilogy exactly remains to be seen, but it appears Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) have apparently forgotten the events of those movies. Going by his original name of Thomas Anderson, Neo tells his therapist in the first trailer that he's having "dreams that weren't just dreams" and has also been taking prescription drugs (which just so happen to be blue).

After debuting at CinemaCon, the first trailer also seemed to reveal why Laurence Fishburne was not invited back to be a part of The Matrix Resurrections. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II appears in the footage looking like a younger version of Morpheus, and in a familiar moment, he offers Neo a red pill. It's not verified that this is indeed Morpheus, but Fishburne has promised that he's not a part of the movie, and he seemingly didn't understand why.

"I am not in the next Matrix movie and you'd have to ask Lana Wachowski why, 'cause I don't have an answer for that," Fishburne told Collider in June. In a separate interview with New York Magazine, he added, "I have not been invited. Maybe that will make me write another play. I wish them well. I hope it's great."

There are some additional returning cast members beyond Reeves as Neo and Moss as Trinity, even if Fishburne isn't a part of the party this time around. This includes Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe, Lambert Wilson as The Merovingian, and Daniel Bernhardt as Agent Wilson. Joining Neil Patrick Harris and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in new roles are Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Priyanka Chopra, Tony Onwumere, Max Riemelt, and Christina Ricci.

Lana Wachowski directs The Matrix Resurrections using a screenplay co-written with David Mitchell and Aleksander Hemon. She also produced with Grant Hill. The original three Matrix movies were co-directed by Lana and sister Lilly Wachowski, though Lana is helming the fourth movie solo this time around. Lilly has since explained why Lana is taking the reins for the next movie.

"That's a tough one," Lilly said at the Television Critics Assocation Summer Tour virtual panel. "I got out of my transition and was just completely exhausted because we had made Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending, and the first season of Sense8 back-to-back-to-back. We were posting one, and prepping the other at the exact same time. So you're talking about three 100-plus days of shooting for each project, and so, coming out and just being completely exhausted, my world was like, falling apart to some extent even while I was like, you know, cracking out of my egg. So I needed this time away from this industry. I needed to reconnect with myself as an artist and I did that by going back to school and painting and stuff."

The Matrix Resurrections is scheduled to be released on December 22, 2021. While it's hard to say what the state of the movie theater industry will look like at that time, chances are the movie will be a big hit with so much anticipation surrounding its release. The new trailer comes to us from Warner Bros. Pictures.