Moss opens up to ET about reprising her role as Trinity and her latest TV projects on Sundance Now and CBS All Access.
There’s no slowing down Carrie-Anne Moss.
The 52-year-old actress, who’s most famous for playing Trinity in the Matrix franchise, has been busy with back-to-back TV projects, most recently playing Jeri Hogarth on Jessica Jones, which ended after three seasons in June, and various iterations of the overlapping Netflix Marvel series. Now, she’s starring in two new series, the CBS All Access adaptation of Tell Me a Story and the crime drama, Wisting, on Sundance Now.
The latter is the latest addition to the TV canon of female-driven crime thrillers with Moss playing an FBI Special Agent, Maggie Griffin, who is brought in to help a homicide detective track down an American serial killer in Norway. Premiering on Wednesday, the dramatic chase to bring down the notorious killer who previously got away from Maggie 20 years prior unfolds weekly over 10 episodes.
Brought to her by her manager, Moss says that what hooked her on the series was the fact that it’s this multilingual show, bouncing back and forth between English and Norwegian. “When I read it, I thought, ‘Wow. This is really different.’ And I really liked Maggie a lot,” she recalls, adding that she was captivated by the concept and trying to figure out how it was all going to work on set.
After speaking with the director, Moss says she got a good vibe from the production and was encouraged to go for it. “I really go by that kind of feeling like, ‘Does something feel like a heck yes or does it feel like a hell no?’ And this was just a heck yes,” she says.
It also helped that right before signing onto the series, Moss was sitting around the kitchen table with her husband saying that she’d love to film in a Nordic country like Norway. A month later, she signed onto the series and was soon filming on location in both Norway and Ireland, “which I just think is some kind of crazy coincidence,” she says.
As for Tell Me a Story, which is an anthology thriller based on various, intertwined fairy tales, Moss plays Rebecca Pruitt, a single mother of three, including a rising country music star, in a version of Beauty and the Beast. When it came to joining the series, the actress says it was as simple as wanting to work with longtime TV producer and creator Kevin Williamson. “I really think he’s amazing,” she says.
While Moss says she doesn’t have a formula for her career, she tends to make her decisions based on instinct and what she wants to get out of participating in the project. “It’s always different; it’s always so unique,” she says, adding that with Wisting, she had “one of the best experiences” of her life.
Another unforgettable experience is her time working on the Wachowskis’ Matrix franchise, which first launched with The Matrix in 1999 and included two follow-ups, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, in 2003. Now, 20 years after the original, Lana Wachowski is co-writing and directing a fourth installment set to be released on May 21, 2021. “That was such a shocker,” Moss says. “I’m still processing it that I’m going to do that again.”
When Matrix 4 was first announced in August, it was confirmed that she and Keanu Reeves will be reuniting for the film. Prior to that, Moss says she and her former co-star “definitely saw each other, talked to each other. But we were just like, ‘Oh, this is going to be amazing if it really happens.’”
Since it’s been announced, the film has added Watchmen’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Iron Fist star Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris and Jonathan Groff to the cast. While details about the movie are under wraps, Moss says that returning to set and playing Trinity again is not about “trying to replicate something. You’re trying to expand it.”
Expected to begin production in February 2020, Moss is really excited about stepping back into the role and start physical training for the film. “It’s definitely 20 years later and I have to remember to take my time because I get pretty into it,” she says with a laugh. “I have to be so incredibly strong to do it.”
Filmed back-to-back, the production for Reloaded and Revolutions was notoriously grueling. Not only did two principal actors die off-set, but Moss broke her leg during training. “That happened,” Moss says matter-of-factly about getting hurt. “Every day I was making those movies was incredible. Even when it was hard, even when we were dealing with tough stuff.”
Not worried about getting injured or what the production will demand of her, Moss is ready to embrace the challenge. “I’m just so happy to be in it and being part of it,” she says, adding that what she remembers most about her time working on the franchise is how much she loved doing it. “To me, that’s the only part I have control over is my experience on the project -- not necessarily how it’s received or how it does.”
Moss concludes by saying, “I’m taking it one day at a time for sure.”
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