The Matrix director Lilly Wachowski turned down fourth movie as it felt ‘unappealing’ and ‘backwards’

Only one of the Wachowski siblings has returned for the forthcoming reboot

The Matrix 4 is directed by only one of the Wachowski siblings, after Lilly Wachowski decided she did not want to “go backwards” in her career.

The original Matrix trilogy was written and directed by Lilly and her sister Lana, but only Lana has returned for the forthcoming sequel, The Matrix Resurrections.

The plot of the new movie remains under wraps, but it will see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity, respectively, alongside newcomers including Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jessica Henwick.

Speaking at an event for her new TV series Work in Progress, Lilly Wachowski revealed that she was offered the chance to co-direct the new film, but turned it down.

“[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,” she said (via Entertainment Weekly). “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.”

Lilly also added that the “massive upheaval” of her gender transition, as well as the death of her parents, led her to believe making another Matrix film would be problematic.

“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,” she explained. “Like I was going to go back and live in these old shoes, in a way. And I didn’t want to do that.”

(Warner Bros Pictures)

The first footage from The Matrix Resurrections was screened for cinema exhibitors and selected members of the press at an event in Las Vegas earlier this week, with viewers hyping the movie up on social media.

“Keanu Reeves looks fantastic as Neo,” wrote one viewer. “Neo & Trinity were WRECKING S**T by the end!!! Motorcycles, helicopters, rocket launchers, jumping off buildings in incredible slow-mo.”

The Matrix Resurrections will be released on 22 December.