The Matrix TV series from 1993 saw a hitman literally go to hell and back to redeem his past – which confusingly also featured The Matrix’s Carrie Anne-Moss. The action genre had grown stagnant during the 1990s until The Matrix provided a shot of much-needed adrenaline. This sci-fi landmark starred Keanu Reeves as a hacker who realizes the world is just an elaborate computer simulation, and humanity has been enslaved by machines. He and a band of rebels team up to take down the system. The Matrix was praised for both its fascinating concept and mindblowing action.

The franchise would continue in the form of back-to-back sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revelations. While both entries featured incredible setpieces like Reloaded’s epic freeway chase, the muddled storyline and anticlimactic ending largely disappointed fans. The sequels were also greeted with a tie-in game called Enter The Matrix – which featured footage shot specifically for the game that tied it into the sequels – and anime anthology The Animatrix. It appeared for a long time the follow-ups would be the end of the story, but the upcoming The Matrix 4 will reunite Keanu Reeves and co-star Carrie Anne-Moss.

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Like George Clooney appearing in 1980s medical drama E/R before becoming a star on another medical drama dubbed ER, one of Carrie Anne-Moss’ pre-fame roles came with TV series Matrix. This 1993 series followed Nick Mancuso’s former hitman Steven Matrix, who is shot in the head and sees a vision of a place called The City In-Between. While there he sees a sea of fire and all the victims he’s killed over the years and is given a choice to go back to Earth to save souls or be damned to Hell; he picks option B.

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Matrix appears to be been inspired by a scene from The Equalizer season 4 called “Sea Of Fire,” where a retired hitman describes his journey to the afterlife. His speech is basically Matrix’s backstory and his quest for redemption. The show has a somewhat Equalizer-style format too as each week Matrix – with help from assistants Billy and Carrie Anne-Moss’ Liz – find troubled souls and help them out. Matrix is periodically called to The City In-Between and issued his assignments, but while he’s not exactly the warmest of characters he does help save lives.

Despite Matrix’s unique premise and a charismatic lead performance by Mancuso, it only lasted for a season. The series has also been largely forgotten, though its connection to The Matrix’s Carrie Anne-Moss still attracts attention.

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Padraig Cotter
(3501 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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