Lilly Wachowski
The co-creator of “The Matrix” came out as trans in 2016 – and later confirmed that the film was always a trans story.
Lilly Wachowski grew up in Chicago and worked with her older sister Lana from an early age, first on comics, then on films. Together they wrote and directed “Bound” (1996), “The Matrix” trilogy (1999–2003), “Speed Racer” and “Cloud Atlas”.
In March 2016 she came out publicly as a trans woman, after a British tabloid had tried to report on her. In her statement she wrote that she wanted to tell her story herself, and that being transgender was not easy in a world that is still hostile to trans people.
In 2020 she confirmed what many fans had long believed: that “The Matrix”, with its story of a hidden self and a world that forces people into a false identity, was originally conceived as an allegory of being trans – even if the studio was not ready for it at the time.
After “Sense8”, the series she co-created with Lana, Lilly Wachowski worked as co-showrunner on the comedy series “Work in Progress” (2019), about a queer woman in Chicago. She did not take part in the fourth Matrix film.