There will be another Matrix movie, but there will be no Wachowski director

And so curls the monkey’s paw: you will get another Matrix, but this time no Wachowskis will be directing it. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the keys to the kingdom are being handed over to Drew Goddard, who, among other genre credits wrote and directed The Cabin In The Woods, and penned the screenplays for Cloverfield and The Martian. Lana Wachowski, who directed the last Matrix film solo, will serve as an executive producer for the new installment.

“It is not hyperbole to say The Matrix films changed both cinema and my life,” Goddard said in a statement (via THR). “Lana and Lilly’s exquisite artistry inspires me on a daily basis, and I am beyond grateful for the chance to tell stories in their world.”

In another statement, Warner Bros. Motion Pictures president of production Jesse Ehrman said, “Drew came to Warner Bros. with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters.”

This announcement fits with David Zaslav’s pronouncement, early in his tenure as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, that “We’re going to have a real focus on franchises.” Having evangelized about the (obvious) financial benefit of franchises for a studio, and having put his money where his mouth is by investing in DC and more Harry Potter, it’s obvious that Zaslav is casting around for his own Star Wars or Star Trek—sci-fi worlds that can sustain sprawling storytelling without necessarily rebooting the original. While The Matrix doesn’t have the exact same “fun for the whole family” appeal as those other franchises, the series has had an indelible impact on culture. Despite what may be considered diminished returns in the sequels, both the storytelling and the visual language of The Matrix have been embraced by fans and filmmakers alike.

But The Matrix is also a product of the Wachowskis’ very particular vision, and was ultimately a deeply personal story. While writing a queer-coded tale was not on the forefront of their minds, there’s an unmistakable subtext. “Yes, it’s a trans allegory—it was made by two closeted trans women, how can it not be?!” Lilly Wachowski told them in 2022 about the original film. Lilly is notably not listed as one of the producers for Goddard’s film, nor was she involved in the fourth film, The Matrix Resurrections. She said at the time she was “exhausted” and needed time “time away from this industry,” explaining, “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 … like I was going to go back and live in these old shoes, in a way. And I didn’t want to do that.”

If only Hollywood studios, with their stubborn, stagnant impulse to revive old IP rather than invest similar resources in new stories, felt similarly to Lilly about moving forward rather than back. But in 2019, the director gave her blessing to any future Matrix installment, with a pretty positive take on the franchise machine: “I like it when stories go out into the world and then come back to you in different ways,” she said to SlashFilm. “I mean, that’s what storytelling is all about. I’m part of a bigger thing. I don’t have any ownership over stuff like that, so whatever story anybody wants to tell, I can’t wait to hear. I hope it’s better than the original.”