The Matrix Resurrections: Lilly Wachoski Revealed Why She Didn't Want to Co-Direct

Lilly Wachowski, the co-director of the original Matrix trilogy, has explained why she didn't return to direct the fourth film of the sci-fi franchise, The Matrix: Resurrections with her sister, Lana Wachowski.

Credit: Warner Bros

During Showtime's TCA panel on Wednesday, per The Wrap, Lilly Wachowski talked about her lack of involvement in The Matrix: Resurrections, clarifying that she found the idea of "going backwards" in her career "expressly unappealing" and that she struggled to find the motivation to direct another Matrix film following the short period of time between their parents dying. It was Lana Wachowski who came up with the idea for Matrix 4.

"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," Wachowski said. "Like I was going to go back and live in these old shoes in a way. And I didn't want to do that."

The last movie Lilly and Lana Wachowski worked together on was Jupiter Ascending in 2015, and Lilly said that she had felt "completely exhausted" from working back-to-back on Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending, and then moving immediately on to the first season of Netflix's Sense8.

"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," she explained. "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. And I said, 'I can't do it.'".

Lilly also said that she hasn't spoken to her sister, Lana since work on The Matrix: Resurrections was completed, and that Lana's reasons for wanting to make the sequel were different than her own.

Warner Bros. recently revealed the first trailer for The Matrix: Resurrections, and its official title at Cinemacon 2021. To check out more details about the fourth Matrix film, check out our hub for The Matrix: Resurrecitons here, and follow our Cyberpunk page on Facebook for the latest news, updates about The Matrix and other sci-fi titles.