10 Recent Movie Recasts That Worked Perfectly

This is the first of two entries on this list in which a character previously played by Hugo Weaving had to be recast. After so many years, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss returned as Neo and Trinity in a fourth Matrix and while Agent Smith also returned, Weaving was unable to commit to the role.

Unfortunately, The Matrix: Resurrections posed a scheduling conflict for the Lord of the Rings actor. Laurence Fishburne was also unable to return as Morpheus, but while the movie worked around so that the character Yahya Abdul-Mateen II played was technically different, Jonathan Groff was brought in as a straight swap to replace Weaving.

This was always going to be a difficult role for the actor, as Agent Smith's portrayal was such a distinct part of the original movies and made Smith such an iconic character, but they couldn't have brought in anybody better.

There was bound to be a great amount of scrutiny of Groff's performance, arguably more than any other. However, his charismatic performance actually allowed Smith to be a noteworthy plus among a sea of very mixed reviews for the return to the Matrix franchise.