“The Matrix Resurrections” (now playing in theaters and on HBO Max), has numerous callbacks to the previous three films, and brings back some of the original characters. Is the Déjà Vu cat one of them?

In the first film, Neo sees a black cat walk past him, shake itself, then the exact same cat seems to walk by again, repeating everything, including the shake. Only Neo sees it, and says, “Déjà Vu.” which leads Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) to realize that this glitch means something in the Matrix has been changed and that their escape routes are now blocked.

In the fourth film in the franchise, Neo is only a character in a hugely successful game designed by Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), which is called, of course, The Matrix. He still has “episodes” where his reality doesn’t seem quite real, and regularly sees his analyst (Neil Patrick Harris), who assures him he’s not crazy and that The Matrix isn’t real.

Read on for animal-related spoilers only.

1. Yes, there is a black cat in “The Matrix Resurrections”

The Analyst has a black cat named Deja Vu, who is in his office whenever Tom drops in for a session. Although we don’t see the cat and Tom interact, The Analyst mentions he knows his client hates his pet. He frequently tells Neo, er, Tom, to focus on the sound of his voice or the sound of the tinkling of the bell around the cat’s neck to help him focus if he starts drifting off into one of his “episodes.” Without getting into bigger spoilers, it turns out that while Tom is supposed to dislike cats, Neo loves them.

2. Rabbits and rabbit tattoos also make a comeback

As in the first film, Neo follows a woman with a rabbit tattoo. In “Resurrections,” it’s Bugs (Jessica Henwick), whose non-Matrix name is Bugs Bunny, after the cartoon character (conveniently owned by Warner Bros). She shows Tom her Alice in Wonderland-inspired ink to convince him to come with her.

We also see ample rabbit and blue and red pill imagery tied to the Matrix game, as at a party where Tom is presented with a designer award.

3. Birds are another recurring motif

Tom is fascinated by birds in the movie. He frequently sees a murmuration, or flocking, of birds over the San Francisco skyline. On a high-rise rooftop, he sees a pigeon standing next to him on the edge of the roof. When it takes off, he is tempted to try to fly as well. We also see winged images in architecture and in the award he receives.

In a humorous shot, Tom is taking a bath and has placed the yellow rubber duckie on his head.

Later, as Neo, he is asked if he really could fly by an admirer in the resistance. There are also bird-like robotic creatures, like Kujaku, who resembles Toothless in “How to Train Your Dragon,” and proves extremely valuable to the resistance.

4. End credit scene spoiler
Thomas Anderson’s fellow game designers dismiss video games as boring and outdated and announce the wave of the future is … cat videos! And that their new project is called The Catrix.

“The Catrix” already exists, in a way. This parody video was posted to YouTube in 2013.