In Netflix's latest hit rom-com Always Be My Maybe, Keanu Reeves appears like an icon, a slow-mo walk-in in a black suit, middle-part flapping
 Playing himself, he greets his on-screen girlfriend, played by comedian Ali Wong, with a hilarious spoof of his aloof, esoteric persona
 "I've missed your heart. I've missed your light. I've missed your soul. I've missed your spirit," he tells her with a passionate embrace
 Minutes later he's choke-holding her ex-boyfriend, who dared question his knowledge of "Chinese dignitaries"
 READ MORE: * Keanu Reeves shines in his two greatest roles yet: Toy Story 4, Always Be My Maybe * E3 2019: XBox unveils 'Project Scarlett' console, Keanu Reeves to star in Cyberpunk 2077 game * Here's how you punch Keanu Reeves in the face, and then write a song about it * Always Be My Maybe ushers in a new age of Keanu Reeves The magnificent cameo, along with a string of recent viral stories indulging the Keanu mystique, have seen the star suddenly locked in the public consciousness, a McConaissance of sorts despite the fact he never really went away
NETFLIX Not so much a rediscovery – he has made three John Wick films in the past five years, after all – but a real-time collective embrace, lest such a cinematic treasure be taken for granted
 A New Yorker profile, titled "Keanu Reeves is too good for this world", got the feelings rolling, describing the actor as "an unlikely antidote to everything wrong with the news cycle"
 It used as its starting point a recent viral moment on Stephen Colbert's late show where the host, jokingly, asked Keanu what happens when we die
 Instead of an off-hand quip, the actor rattled viewers with some unexpected earnestness
 "I know that the ones who love us will miss us," he said. The moment – perhaps hinged by viewers to Keanu's own known tragic chapters, and their own – sparked an outpouring of appreciation for the actor
 Anecdotes of his good guy, anti-star charisma quickly flooded the internet. A "sweet, quiet, nervous" exchange with a Sydney cinema worker over a decade ago; an "apologetic and super polite" order at a bistro where he'd awkwardly assumed table service; a half-hour chat with a bartender about "guitars, motorcycles and scotch" – it seems everyone has a Keanu story (I only have a Charlie Sheen story; it's not so heart-warming)
 A sort of sad puppy fascination has long greeted Keanu's public profile, far removed from his pre-Matrix days, when he was Hollywood's punching bag over his dude-y drawl and "serious actor" pretensions
 The  infamous "Sad Keanu" meme in 2010, which found the actor forlornly eating a sandwich on a park bench, had much to do with it, fans imbuing reality into a goofy online gag that mistook solitude for melancholy
 He's a cipher at this point, a rarity in Hollywood where celebrities and PR firms forge their own narratives
 "I'm absolutely a very happy person," he countered in a Reddit AMA in 2013; the world patted him on the head and replied: "You don't need to lie to us, Keanu
" Amid the present fevered #KeanuWorldOrder, stories of his admirable off-kilter intensity on set and real-world grace are emanating daily
 While I've been writing this, a new meme has emerged praising his "respectful" hover-hands when taking photos with female fans
 Likewise, his director on Pixar's new Toy Story 4 praised his dedication to his apparent scene-stealing work as franchise newcomer Duke Caboom, a Canadian Evel Knievel-style stunt motorcyclist
 "He would ask these really deep character questions, and you couldn't ignore them, like, 'What drives the toy, what is the toy afraid of?' It really did force us to dig deeper into this character that we thought was more of a gag," filmmaker Josh Cooley told USA Today
 "What is the toy afraid of?" For an animated kids' film about dolls? I bet Tom Hanks never even asked that
 That's the beauty of Keanu. Or to borrow one of his own famous lines, "Woah." That's it, "Dude, woah
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