21 years since its release, the groundbreaking The Matrix has spawned numerous theories and interpretations about its characters and themes. Among them was the suggestion that there is an implicit trans narrative, especially after both its directors, Lilly and Lana Wachowski, came out as trans women — Lana in 2010, Lilly in 2016. The latter has now confirmed the allegory in a new interaction with Netflix.

Lilly is glad that people are talking about the Matrix movies with a trans narrative. "I love how meaningful those films are to trans people, in the way that they come up to me and say, 'These movies saved my life.' When you talk about transformation, specifically in the world of science fiction, which is about imagination and world-building, the idea of the seemingly impossible becomes possible. I think that's why it speaks to them so much."

Sharing that The Matrix was about "the desire for transformation but coming from a closeted point of view," she added that the character Switch from the first film was originally written as a woman in the Matrix but a man in the real world.

Lilly is currently writing and directing the much-anticipated fourth part of the Matrix, which has Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith and Lambert Wilson reprising their roles from the original. The new additions to the cast include Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra, and Jonathan Groff among others.