I think if he would’ve been like “I’ve rally changed my mind. I can’t do this.” Neo and Morpheus I feel would’ve tried to help him re-enter the matrix.
The whole thing was about “give them a choice” and I think everyone would have at least understood how he fealt and would’ve tried to get him back into the matrix at his request.
I feel like he didn’t even try talking about it before he went to the agents.
I know it’s meaningless just wondering what other people thought.
I feel like admitting that would have led to him getting a bullet in the head.
The machines obviously aren’t interested in reconnecting him - they grow humans by the thousand in their facilities. Like you’re not going to hike for a day to pick up lost carrot when you have them growing in your garden.
The only way the machines would consider reconnecting him would be as part of a deal for something significantly more valuable than one human. If Morpheus is on the table? Sure, now that’s worth it. Which isn’t to say they wouldn’t have betrayed and killed him once they had Morpheus anyway. Our only assurance that they would honour an agreement is a throwaway line from the Architect at the end of Reloaded.
And if there’s no going back, what does a terrified resistance do when one of their fighters starts talking about joining the enemy? He’s too dangerous - he’s gotta go.