Can you have The Matrix without the Wachowski Sisters? Probably not

Followed by The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, a wonderful, original trilogy was created by the Wachowski Sisters, chronicling the story of Neo, Trinity, Morpheus and countless other characters, while also providing a deeply personal message from the sisters themselves.

Then, in 2021, we returned to the saga with Lana Wachowski’s underrated The Matrix Resurrections, which at the time felt like a delicious cherry on the cake, while simultaneously providing a scathing commentary on legacy sequels and nostalgia cash grabs.

So, when it was announced on 3rd April 2024 that a fifth Matrix film was in the works, with Lana Wachowski attached as executive producer only, a role that could have some weight but could just as likely mean absolutely nothing within the structure of Warner Bros, you’d be forgiven for rolling your eyes, and fearing what comes next.

Because what is The Matrix without the Wachowski Sisters at the helm, or even without just one of them leading the line, as was the case with Resurrections?

There are few intellectual properties that possess such an inherent, symbiotic relationship with their creators than The Matrix franchise.

Not just because of the originality of the story within the films themselves. Not just for the action sequences they created that became the gold standard for cinema moving forward. But for the deeply personal nature of the wider theme which The Matrix is tackling.

The Matrix is, in part, an allegory for the transgender experience. Both Wachowski Sisters are trans women, the red pill has been likened to oestrogen pills, and the description of the Matrix itself by Morpheus – "a splinter in your mind" – the feeling that there is something wrong with the world you find yourself in, has been compared to experience of gender dysphoria.

All of this is evidence presented in the film, and both Lana and Lilly Wachowski have made repeated statements in later years that writing The Matrix was intended as metaphor for their experience as closeted trans women.

Losing that perspective feels like losing an integral part of the film itself, and yet that’s exactly the decision Warner Bros has made with the announced fifth instalment of The Matrix.

The as-yet untitled project will be written and directed by Drew Goddard, creator of the supremely successful Daredevil show on Netflix, director of cult classic Cabin in the Woods, and writer for films such as The Martian and World War Z.

His résumé speaks for itself, being a part of projects with interesting stories, excellent action sequences and big, broad themes to be tackled. None of this is a knock on Goddard as a filmmaker.

But moving forward with someone like Goddard at the helm of this project, without Lilly or Lana Wachowski, just feels… wrong.

It runs the risk of turning something as vital as trans storytelling into a triviality, just another run-of-the-mill franchise in the Hollywood landscape.

Goddard even used the word "stories" in the WB press release. Are we in line for a Matrix Cinematic Universe? Is that really a road that we need to head down? The answer is a firm no.

Away from the seriousness of the transness within The Matrix, though, there is also a quite incredible irony to this new project given where the story of Matrix Resurrections took us in 2021. Lana Wachowski created a film that provided a coda of sorts for the original trilogy, but also made her own feelings on legacy sequels startlingly clear.

From The Merovingian’s meta analysis, saying "originality mattered", to the back and forth between Neo and Jonathan Groff’s Smith in which the latter goes so far as to utter the line, "Things have changed, the market’s tough, I’m sure you can understand why our beloved parent company Warner Bros has decided to make a sequel to the trilogy… they informed me they’re gonna do it with or without us."

While that all feels very on the nose to you and me, it seems Warner Bros weren’t in on the joke. We know next to nothing about the fifth instalment of the franchise, aside from Goddard’s involvement and the lack of a Wachowski in either the director’s chair or the writers' room.

Maybe our fears will be assuaged, and the film will be a success, taking the proverbial baton from the Wachowski Sisters and continuing to take the franchise further to new heights. But then again, maybe it won’t, and all that has been achieved is the diminishing of one of cinema’s most transcendent stories.

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