The Matrix: 20 Things You Didn't Know
12. It Went Through 14 Drafts
The script for The Matrix went through 14 drafts over a period of five-and-a-half years. Although the core of the story was the same, there were a lot of alterations from the original pitch.
In one draft, there was a crew member of The Nebuchadnezzar called Cable who described as "a man with a big gun" as a reference to the Marvel superhero of the same name. When Neo is revived at the end, he was meant to give Smith the middle finger as a callback to their first meeting.
As Smith died, he was meant to pull a Revenge of the Sith and scream "NOOOOO!" which would've been unintentionally hilarious.
One of the biggest changes was the revelation that Morpheus found five other people he believed to be The One. Sadly, all of them died while fighting Agents.
Elements from this subplot were incorporated into The Matrix Reloaded when The Architect informs Neo that there were five "Ones" before him. It would have been interesting to keep this backstory since it makes Cypher's mutiny far more understandable.