With the first footage for the upcoming fourth Matrix movie, set to be titled Matrix Revelations, being shown at CinemaCon earlier this week, Lilly Wachowski has revealed why she didn't return to the franchise alongside her sibling. Releasing in 1999, The Matrix starred Keanu Reeves as hacker Neo, who discovers that he and the rest of humanity are living in a simulation controlled by sentient machines. He joins up with a group of fellow hackers led by Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus to escape and attempts to free mankind.
The Matrix was a huge success and proved to be hugely influential on a number of subsequent action films through its employment of wire-fu, a technique utilized in Hong Kong action cinema. The film also helped to popularize the slow-motion visual effect known as 'bullet-time.' The Wachowskis returned to direct two sequels, although the third instalment The Matrix Revolutions was poorly received and described as anticlimactic. Rumors abounded of a fourth Matrix film for years, including a potential prequel focusing on a young Morpheus. However, Resurrections was officially announced in 2019 with Lana Wachowski directing and Reeves returning as Neo alongside Carrie-Ann Moss and Jada Pinkett Smith, who will reprise their roles as Trinity and Niobe. They will also be joined by series newcomers Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jessica Henwick.
As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Lilly Wachowski opened up about her decision not to return for Resurrections during the Television Critics Association Summer Tour virtual panel for Work in Progress, the Showtime show on which she serves as showrunner, executive producer, writer, and director. Wachowski, who is transgender, explained that part of her decision not to return was influenced by being completely exhausted after coming out of her transition and also completing Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending and the first season of Sense8. You can read her full statement below:
"I got out of my transition and was just completely exhausted because we had made Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending, and the first season of Sense8 back-to-back-to-back. We were posting one, and prepping the other at the exact same time. So you're talking about three 100-plus days of shooting for each project, and so, coming out and just being completely exhausted, 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. I needed to reconnect with myself as an artist and I did that by going back to school and painting and stuff."
Wachowski also added that she was in a position where she wanted to move forward with her creative endeavors rather re-tread old ground. She said:
"[Lana] had come up with this idea for another Matrix movie, and we had this talk, and it was actually — we started talking about it in between [our] dad dying and [our] mom dying, which was like five weeks apart. And there was something about the idea of going backward and being a part of something that I had done before that was expressly unappealing. And, 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 — like I was going to go back and live in these old shoes, in a way. And I didn't want to do that."
It's understandable that Wachowski would prefer to work on new projects than return to a project she worked on over twenty years ago, especially after having an exhausting few years of working non-stop. Taking time to rediscover her passions and choosing to work on her own creative endeavors is more than reasonable, and if she feels more comfortable working on Work in Progress, then so be it. Fortunately, Wachowski doesn't feel any ill-will towards Lana for returning to The Matrix, giving her blessing on the project. She also didn't rule another potential collaboration in the future, be it on a fifth Matrix film or something else. While this would be great to see, it should only be if Wachowski felt comfortable.
More: Matrix 4: Why Neo Doesn't Remember Who He Is In Resurrections
Source: Entertainment Weekly
