Why Tank Didn’t Return For The Matrix Sequels

After playing such an integral role in The Matrix, Tank (Marcus Chong) didn’t appear in either of the sequels, The Matrix Reloaded or The Matrix Revolutions, with many viewers wondering why. As the operator of the Nebuchadnezzar, Tank plays a pretty crucial role on the team in the first movie, making his disappearance surprising. That’s especially true due to the fact Tank was one of the few Nebuchadnezzar crew members to even survive Cypher’s betrayal of his comrades. In 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, Tank is instead replaced by his brother-in-law, Link (Harold Perrineau Jr).

It’s explained in-universe that Tank died sometime after the first Matrix movie, though no cause is given. It’s a simple explanation hiding a complicated behind-the-scenes story. The real reason Tank didn’t come back for the admittedly quite divisive Matrix sequels was a conflict between actor Marcus Chong and the producers. Said conflict got incredibly heated, leading to legal battles, and Chong making shocking allegations against his former colleagues and bosses. Needless to say, Chong’s career has never truly recovered.

What Happened To Tank In The Matrix

Tank Died Between The First And Second Matrix Movies

Tank, alongside his brother Dozer, served as a faithful member of the Nebuchadnezzar ship’s crew in The Matrix, working under the command of Morpheus. As the ship’s Operator, Tank had a lot of responsibility, such as watching over the ship, while those jacked into the matrix traverse within the digital world, and also making sure his compatriots headed into the simulated reality with the proper weapons and knowledge.

Tank was badly injured with a lightning rifle by Cypher when the latter betrayed humanity as part of a deal with the agents to get inserted back into the matrix living a life of luxury. While Tank survived and killed Cypher, Dozer wasn’t so lucky, dying of his own rifle shot. Tank then supposedly died sometime between The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, though it wasn’t revealed if this was due to his injuries from the first movie or from some other, unrelated cause.

Why Tank Didn’t Return For The Matrix Reloaded

Marcus Chong Committed A Notorious Level Of Self-Sabotage With A YouTube Documentary

While Tank died in the canon The Matrix timeline, there was a behind-the-scenes reason for this creative decision. In 2003, Chong filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros/AOL Time Warner, claiming that there was a verbal agreement from 1998 and a contract signed in 2000 that guaranteed him a place in the sequel movies. Warner offered him $400,000 for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, and he wanted to get $1 million, and Chong wouldn’t budge (via entertainment.ie).

The lawsuit included claims of defamation, stating that the producers tried to paint him as a terrorist. In October 2000, Chong was arrested for making threatening phone calls to Warner Bros and writer-directors the Wachowskis over his being written out of the movie. He even went as far as claiming he was being blackballed in the industry by the producers. Chong hasn’t been in many movies since The Matrix — which may hint that he is difficult to work with.

Considering all that, it’s no wonder Tank didn’t return for
The Matrix
sequels.

The best evidence of this comes from Chong himself, in a short documentary he made called The Marcus Chong Story (via YouTube). The 45-minute piece includes several more bizarre claims that aren’t backed up by anyone else who worked on The Matrix. One is that leading man Keanu Reeves stole money from animators, the stunt team, and other actors in The Matrix, and that Warner tried to force him to sign a fake Screen Actor’s Guild contract so that the union rules couldn’t help him.

The documentary also gets petty and vindictive about everyone else involved in The Matrix. The low point is a slideshow of headlines about other people in the movie, such as Joel Silver getting kicked out of Warner Bros, the death of casting director Mali Finn, Laurence Fishburne’s daughter getting arrested, and headlines about Lana and Lilly Wachowski transitioning, followed by pictures of Chong laughing and seemingly ridiculing their life choices. Considering all that, it’s no wonder Tank didn’t return for The Matrix sequels.

The Matrix Resurrections Would’ve Been A Good Way To Bring Tank Back In

Tank Could Have Been Worked Into The Matrix 4

While the animosity between Marcus Chong and the creative team of The Matrix certainly ran deep, several decades had passed since the initial lawsuit, with almost five years passing since he made his infamous YouTube documentary. The Matrix franchise returned in 2021 with The Matrix: Resurrections, which Chong also didn’t return for, though it would have been a good opportunity to bring Tank back.

Tank’s legacy in
The Matrix
franchise ended when he was unceremoniously killed off-screen thanks to the conduct of the actor portraying him.

While he wasn’t a majorly prominent role in the first movie, Tank (also known as The Operator) was a memorable character. Since The Matrix: Resurrections brought back many names and faces from the original trilogy, it could have done the same with Tank. Even though the return of Marcus Chong himself was always somewhat unlikely given his comments in the years since The Matrix arrived and his general career slowdown, that doesn’t mean the character couldn’t have come back.

Several characters from the original The Matrix trilogy returned with new actors, such as Jonathan Groff replacing Hugo Weaving as Smith, and Yahya Abdul Mateen II as the new Morpheus. Since the next cycle of The Matrix as presented in Resurrections took human characters known by Neo and Trinity and made them into programs, director Lana Wachowski could have given Tank a revival too, one that separated The Operator from Marcus Chong.

Sadly, she chose not to, and so Tank’s legacy in The Matrix franchise ended when he was unceremoniously killed off-screen thanks to the conduct of the actor portraying him.

What Marcus Chong Has Done Since The Matrix

Chong’s Acting Career Stalled Following The Matrix Controversy

As mentioned, Marcus Ching’s Hollywood career seemed to be negatively affected by the controversy of his not returning for The Matrix sequels. Actors not being asked to return to popular franchises is not unheard of as it happened with Terrence Howard in Iron Man and Megan Fox in Transformers. However, while those two actors kept working, Chong’s public attacks on those he worked with, the unfounded accusations, and the meanspirited insults directed at his former colleagues seem to have earned him a poor reputation in the business.

Following The Matrix, Chong’s only feature-length movie role was in The Crow: Wicked Prayer, where he played War alongside Edward Furlong, Tara Reid, and Dennis Hopper. He did get some guest starring roles on high-profile roles even after the controversy with The Matrix, including Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Burn Notice, and Numb3rs. Chong’s most recent on-screen role was playing Harry Belafonte in the short film Not 4 Sale.