Lilly Wachowski, one of the creative minds behind the cultural phenomenon that is The Matrix, recently said in an interview on KCRW’s The Business podcast that nobody in Hollywood is interested in financing her next big project due to it having an all-trans cast.
On the episode titled ‘Lilly Wachowski reimagines the studio system (Pt 1)’, she states that “People like it, but they really don’t want to make it because it’s [got a] wall-to-wall trans cast”.
Wachowski added, “I have to get creative and figure out different ways that I can get this in front of people.”
The political thriller project, titled The Hunted, has an estimated budget of $10 million and has been described by Lilly Wachowski as a response to the current social and political climate for trans people. It takes place in a dystopian version of America where trans people are brutalised and neglected, and follows a story of two trans women hunting down a perpetrator, a trail which leads them to the highest positions of government.
Wachowski added that this has been an important project for her own personal life, saying, “It gave me a hugely cathartic receptacle to dump all of my anger and rage and frustration into”.
The writer/director co-wrote The Hunted alongside her partner Mickey Ray Mahoney, who she previously worked with on the 2021 TV series Work in Progress. The Hunted is in development through the Wachowski-founded collective, Anarchists United, as well as Natasha Lyonne’s Ariadne Collective.
The project hosted a live table read that took place from August 7 to 8, which was framed as a way of involving a wider part of the community, encouraging a more collaborative process. In regard to this, Wachowski said, “I’m just going to go out and I’m going to grab that trans joy with all of my friends”.
“It’s not the thing that I had imagined it was going to be, but the end result is the same,” she added.
This would be Wachowski’s second project with an all trans cast, after last year’s The Stepford Wives-inspired 18-minute short film Dolls, for which she was Executive Producer.
© 2026 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
Support GCN
GCN is a free, vital resource for Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community since 1988.
GCN is a trading name of National LGBT Federation CLG, a registered charity - Charity Number: 20034580.
GCN relies on the generous support of the community and allies to sustain the crucial work that we do. Producing GCN is costly, and, in an industry which has been hugely impacted by rising costs, we need your support to help sustain and grow this vital resource.
Supporting GCN for as little as €1.99 per month will help us continue our work as Ireland’s free, independent LGBTQ+ media.