Tom Payne of The Walking Dead fame is ready to put his martial arts skills to use, and he wants to do it in the newly announced The Matrix 4. After only three seasons with the AMC zombie show, his ass-kicking high-flying Paul “Jesus” Rovia was killed off. It was a role he trained three years for, so one could see how he might be chomping at the bit.
In any case, the Golden Age of Keanu continues, with Warner Bros. just days ago announcing that a fourth Matrix film is in the works. It’ll feature Reeves and his former co-star Carrie-Anne Moss, among others, and Lana Wachowski will return to direct and write. Hoping to be one of those “others,” Payne posted the following to his Twitter page:
Any need for another martial artist in there? 😆🥋 https://t.co/IKUGcEouwM
— Tom Payne (@justanactor) August 21, 2019
Who knows if he was really joking as the emoji suggests. What we do know is that he would definitely be putting his thus far under-utilized martial arts skills to use. When his character was killed by the Whisperers in The Walking Dead last season, he made it clear how unhappy he was with not only the decision, but how poorly Jesus was used. Payne trained hard and did his comic homework, and it was obvious how much he fell in love with the role, watching him lead the Hilltop.
As of now, we know very little about The Matrix 4. Fans are beyond stoked about Reeves and Moss coming back as Neo and Trinity, but they also want Laurence Fishburne to reprise his role as Morpheus as well. It’s been reported, however, that the new installment will feature a younger version of the resistance leader. How that’ll fit in with a 54 and 52-year-old Keanu and Carrie is anyone’s guess, but in a world where humans power machines and machines control humans, anything’s possible.