The Matrix Resurrections star Jessica Henwick says director Lana Wachowski considered abandoning the film when production was forced to shut down due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

"Now that's somewhere I felt pressure because those fights are so seminal [to The Matrix]," Henwick said in an interview with Collider when asked what it was like to be part of the fourth film the Matrix saga, a franchise known for its action set pieces. "Those moments from the original have stayed in my head, so many of those fight beats, that was really where I was intimidated going into it. I knew I had to be performing up here. You're performing with Keanu [Reeves]. It's John Wick. He knows what he's doing. You can't hold him back, in any way. I had to give it my all. I devoted myself to it. We trained pretty hard in the run-up, and we kept training all the way through filming."

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The Marvel's Iron Fist alum continued, "When we were shut down for COVID and we went off three months, I think it was, I still was at home training every day, even though we didn't know if we were going back. When we got shut down for COVID, Lana said, 'Well, maybe that's it. Maybe we won't come back and film the rest of it. Maybe the new Matrix will go down as this legendary film which [is] incomplete, and no one will ever be able to see it. Maybe that's what this is meant to be.' And we were all going, 'No, you have to finish the film.' But she really did toy with the idea of just calling it quits. I don't know if I'm meant to be talking about that."

Collider postulated that during the height of COVID, with just about every major film and television production being put on hold, everyone in Hollywood was likely wondering whether or not whatever they were working on at the time would actually be finished. Said Henwick, "Totally, and a lot of projects in that middle tier folded because when they came back, the COVID restrictions are so high on a film set that it added another 5 percent or 10 percent to the budget. If a film couldn't afford that, they just had to fold."

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Henwick also explained that "[n]o one wanted to put anyone at risk and the unions really stepped up to make sure the cast and crew were all protected. For me, even though I didn't know whether we would come back, I couldn't think about that, and so I trained throughout the entire break because I just had to focus. I just had to be positive and go, 'No, we're gonna go finish the film. We have to. This can't be how my Matrix journey ends.'"

Written and directed by The Wachowskis -- Lana and Lilly -- The Matrix originally released in theaters in 1999. The Wachowskis returned to helm two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both of which released in 2003. The Matrix Resurrections, which initially entered production in early 2020, is directed exclusively by Lana Wachowski, who also penned the film's script alongside David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon.

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Resurrections sees franchise veterans Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lambert Wilson and Daniel Bernhardt reprise their roles as Neo, Trinity, Niobe, The Merovingian and Agent Johnson, respectively. They are joined by newcomer (and Moss' former Marvel's The Defenders co-star) Henwick, who plays the character of Bugs. Speaking of newcomers, Resurrections also sees Watchmen star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II step into the role of Morpheus, who was played in the first three films by Laurence Fishburne.

The Matrix Resurrections premieres in theaters and on HBO Max on Dec. 22.

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Source: Collider