The Reason Why The Characters In 'The Matrix' Always Wore Sunglasses

"The Matrix" franchise was a series of three movies that left a huge impact on the film industry and pop culture as a whole.

This impact has endured till now, more than two decades since its release in 1999. Much of its fame has been attributed to the sci-fi nature of the film, its mysterious element, and its futuristic filming.

One of the more mysterious elements of the series that has been hotly debated in the years since its release is why the cast wore dark sunglasses throughout.

As with every other part of the movies, the presence of the glasses was intentional, and we combed all the theories and interviews to find out why. For fans of "The Matrix" and its subsequent films, here is the real reason why the cast wore dark sunglasses.

The first film installment in "The Matrix" series was released in 1999 and instantly hit the cinema.

The film, written and directed by sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski, revolved around Neo (played by Keanu Reeves), a computer programmer who was drawn into a rebellion alongside other people freed from the Matrix (Morpheus and Trinity) against the machines which had taken over the world and their agents, like Agent Smith.

The film had a budget of only $63 million and earned a total of $463 million from sales worldwide, which ranked it as the highest-grossing film that year.

It also won four Academy Awards and was so good that Warner Brothers, the studio that produced the film, happily funded the sequels; "The Matrix Reloaded'' and "The Matrix Revolutions," grossing $742m & $427 at the box office. It made a cultural impact on the world and forever changed how action movies were made and viewed.

One of the most noticeable things in "The Matrix" was the cast's futuristic outfits, sophisticated leather pieces, and dark sunglasses that hid their eyes but reflected those they looked at.

According to an interpretation made by Looper, the glasses were worn to portray that the cast was viewing a filtered reality. This theory was supported by the several scenes where specific cast removed their glasses, a hint to help the audience recognize who was in the Matrix and who wasn't.

An alternative theory proposed that the glasses represented a rebellion by those who wore them.

Any Matrix fan will remember that the glasses-wearing originated from the agents. The theory suggested that as humans became more aware of the damage caused by the machines, they also began to wear glasses to show their defiance against oppression.

A fan-favorite theory, however, has been that the cast wore it to look cool.

Most casts wore dark sunglasses, except three-- The Architect, The Oracle, and The Merovingian.

This exclusion was also another mystery, but multiple theories have also proposed the truth behind this. The main cast, such as Neo, Agent Smith, and Morpheus, were all aware that the Matrix wasn't real in the films, but they were never made aware of why it was created and its history.

This secret knowledge was reserved for the Architect, Merovingian, and Oracle, who did not wear glasses.

One theory was that the absence of glasses portrayed their knowledge and differentiated them from the other cast. The stories in "The Matrix 2" and "The Matrix 3" supported this theory as they showed how much more these three were aware of the truth behind the Matrix and the dominance of the machines.

Much like its predecessors, the latest installment of "The Matrix" has been shrouded in a haze of mystery and secrecy. However, CinemaCon came to the rescue of its fans and revealed several details of the upcoming film, such as the title and private footage.

According to ScreenRant, who have seen the footage, it depicted a reunion of the resurrected Neo and Trinity at an indie bookstore.

The film will also allegedly feature a young Morpheus who sends Neo back into the Matrix via red pill. For fans of the time and space bending action shown in previous movies, the upcoming film would not disappoint as the footage reportedly showed a lot of havoc-wreaking, martial arts fights, and lots of guns.

The film was initially set for release in May this year, but with the delay in production due to the pandemic, its release date was changed to April 1, 2022.