The Matrix Resurrections: 25 WTF Moments
11. The Original Morpheus Is Definitely Dead
Easily the single biggest bummer about this movie is the absence of Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, and though Wachowski doesn't actually come right out and say it, the clear implication is that the original Morpheus is dead.
When Niobe is walking Neo through Io, we see a statue dedicated to Morpheus as she explains that he was elected to High Chair of the Zion Council, but he refused to heed the Oracle's warning of a dangerous power spreading through the Matrix, adamant that Neo's sacrifice couldn't be undone.
It doesn't take much reading between the lines to assume that Morpheus was a casualty of ongoing conflicts, though without a concrete explanation, it's also entirely possible that his death in The Matrix Online video game - where he's shot dead by an assassin - is now being taken as canon.
The vague, non-committal stance on the nature of Morpheus' death at least ensures that it doesn't contradict his demise in The Matrix Online, and given that the Wachowskis directed the game and were intimately involved in it creatively, they might not want to just cast it aside.