Lilly Wachowski claims new movie is too "wall-to-wall trans" to get Hollywood greenlight
The Matrix co-director says financiers have passed on The Hunted, a roughly $10 million dystopian thriller, because of what she calls its “wall-to-wall trans cast.” She’s staging live table reads instead while she looks for another route.
Lilly Wachowski co-directed The Matrix. She says she cannot find anyone in Hollywood to finance her next film, a thriller budgeted at around $10 million.
Speaking on KCRW’s The Business podcast, Wachowski said the script for The Hunted has been well received but keeps getting passed on. “People like it, but they really don’t want to make it because it’s [got a] wall-to-wall trans cast,” she said.
The film is co-written with her partner Mickey Ray Mahoney. It’s a dystopian political thriller following two trans women investigating a crime that leads into the upper reaches of government, with every principal role written for a transgender actor.
What she’s doing instead
Rather than wait, Wachowski has started putting the material in front of audiences another way.
She staged a live table read of The Hunted at Los Angeles’ Dynasty Typewriter theatre on August 7 and 8. She framed it as a communal event rather than a substitute, saying she intended to grab that trans joy with her friends, and that the result wasn’t what she’d imagined but got somewhere similar.
The project is in development through her artist-owned studio Anarchists United and Natasha Lyonne’s Ariadne banner. Wachowski said she needs to get creative about other ways to reach people, which may mean something other than a $10 million movie.
The industry is pivoting away from “diversity”
GLAAD’s annual “Where We Are in Film” study, published weeks before Wachowski’s comments, found zero transgender characters across 225 films released by the ten largest studio distributors in 2025. The same study recorded a 3% drop in films featuring LGBTQ characters, the third consecutive annual decline from a 2023 high.
Wachowski also said those “diverse” opportunities are shrinking generally.
It might not be just that…
It’s worth noting what hasn’t been established, and what else could explain a pass.
The reasoning Wachowski describes is her account of what financiers told her. No financier has publicly commented, and studios rarely explain a pass on the record, so there’s no independent confirmation of the stated rationale.
There’s also a broader squeeze that isn’t specific to this film. Independent financing has contracted sharply, mid-budget dramas and thrillers without established stars are a hard sell across the board, and $10 million with no bankable lead is a difficult raise regardless of subject.
Some observers have noted the Wachowskis’ own resources and asked why the film isn’t self-financed, though nothing suggests that option was ever on the table or would be sensible for a director.
Both explanations can be partially true, and neither has been tested publicly. What’s documented is the GLAAD count, Wachowski’s account of the conversations, and the fact that a director with one of the most influential science-fiction credits of the past thirty years is currently staging her script in a theatre because she can’t get it filmed.
Where the film goes next, if anywhere, is still open.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Variety (August 12, 2026), verified for Wachowski’s comments on financing, the roughly $10 million budget, the Anarchists United and Ariadne development, and the Dynasty Typewriter table read on August 7-8
The Hollywood Reporter (August 2026), verified for the KCRW “The Business” podcast interview, the “people like it, but they really don’t want to make it” quote, her comments about dwindling opportunities for underrepresented voices, and the producers attached
PinkNews (August 13, 2026), verified for the film’s premise involving two trans women and a trail leading to the highest levels of government, her “get creative” comment, and her framing of the table read
Deadline (August 2026), verified for the GLAAD “Where We Are in Film” findings of zero transgender characters across 225 films from ten major distributors in 2025, the 3% decline in LGBTQ-inclusive films, and the third consecutive year of decline