Keanu Reeves has revealed the story behind the viral “sad Keanu” meme that circulated in 2010.

During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday (13 December), the 57-year-old actor was presented with a photograph of one of the “sad Keanu” memes by the host.

In the original photograph, Reeves can be seen sitting alone on a bench, with a slightly crestfallen expression and a sandwich in his hand. The ambiguity of the shot led it to become a viral meme more than a decade ago.

As soon as Reeves looked at the picture, he said: “I’m just eating a sandwich, man!”

The John Wick actor went on explaining how he was just “thinking” and “had some stuff going on”.

“I was hungry,” he added.

Reeves’ highly anticipated film The Matrix Resurrections is set to be released this month.

A new trailer was released earlier this month depicting Reeves’ Neo and Carrie-Anne Moss’ Trinity.

Neo can also be seen plugged into the Matrix, where he’s saturated with déjà vu of his past experiences.

The film also brings back Lambert Wilson, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Daniel Bernhardt from the original trilogy, and new cast members include Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

Fans are “over the moon” after watching the new trailer.

“Wow, I thought that first trailer was pretty cool, but this… I’m really getting excited now. It looks like they might have pulled this off,” wrote one fan.

Another person added: “Excited is not a good enough word.”

The Matrix Resurrections is released on 22 December.