Why Lilly Wachowski Didn't Return For Matrix 4

The fourth Matrix movie, recently confirmed to be titled The Matrix: Resurrections, sees the return of Lana Wachowski writing, directing, and producing. Her sister Lilly, who collaborated with Lana on the original three Matrix movies, is not attached to the project, and has explained why in a recent interview.

Speaking on a panel about Showtime TV show Work in Progress, on which she is the showrunner, Lilly explained why she didn't want to return to the franchise. "There was something about the idea of going backwards and being a part of something that I had done before that was expressly unappealing," Wachowski explained on the panel, as quoted by The Wrap.

"Like, I didn’t want to have gone through my transition and gone through this massive upheaval in my life, the sense of loss from my mom and dad, to want to go back to something that I had done before and sort of walk over old paths that I had walked in, felt emotionally unfulfilling and really the opposite," she continued. "Like I was going to go back and live in these old shoes in a way. And I didn't want to do that."

Wachowski also said that she had been "completely exhausted" after a packed filming schedule that included Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending, and Sense8 season one, which was part of the reason why she didn't join Lana for the second season of the Netflix show.

"My world was like falling apart, to some extent, even while I was like, you know, cracking out of my egg. So I needed this time away from this industry," Wachowski said. "I needed to, like, reconnect to myself as an artist. And I did that by going back to school and painting and stuff. And I made that decision. So I started painting that summer with my mom and then Lana got the call from Netflix that they wanted to order up another season [of Sense8]. And I said, 'I can’t do it. I don't want to do it.'"

Lilly has previously stated that she has found herself less interested in sci-fi in general since her transition. Her latest project has been Work in Progress, a Showtime TV comedy about a middle-aged queer woman navigating a transformative period of her life.

The trailer for Matrix Resurrections is now here.