Looking star Jonathan Groff joins the already super-queer cast of The Matrix 4
Jonathan Groff is reportedly joining the cast of The Matrix 4. (Warner Bros/Netflix)
Jonathan Groff will join gay actor Neil Patrick Harris and trans director Lana Wachowski on the set of The Matrix 4.
Groff, star of the gay drama Looking and Disney’s Frozen, has reportedly signed up for the upcoming Matrix reboot.
According to Collider his role is being kept tightly under wraps, thought the website speculates that “it would’t be a stretch to see him suit-clad agent, given his character on [the Netflix series] Mindhunter”. It stresses that this is conjecture.
Groff is the second openly gay actor slated for the cast, following October’s announcement that Neil Patrick Harris will also star.
Both actors join Keanu Reeves and Carrie Anne Moss, who reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity from the original trilogy.
Lana Wachowski makes history with The Matrix 4.
Lana Wachowski is on solo writing and directing duties, as her sister Lilly – with whom she created the franchise – has opted to sit this instalment out.
She said she was excited to explore the ideas she had first delved into with her sister 20 years ago.
“Many of [these ideas] about our reality are even more relevant now,” she told Variety
“I’m very happy to have these characters back in my life and grateful for another chance to work with my brilliant friends.”
The Matrix 4 will make Wachowski the first openly trans person to helm a major Hollywood blockbuster by themselves.
Jada Pinkett-Smith is also said to be in negotiations to reprise her role of Niobe, however one familiar face that won’t be present is Laurence Fishburne.
Instead, Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is reportedly taking on a younger version of his character, Morpheus.
The Matrix is a trans metaphor.
The Matrix followed the story of a hacker, Neo, who discovered that humanity was trapped in a simulated reality.
In the years following its release the plot has been reevaluated as an allegory for the trans experience.
Dr Eleanor Amaranth Lockhart said that the story deals with “things typical of the trans experience that aren’t ‘sexy,'” such as the fraught between trans and cis societies, the never-ending fight that comes with asserting ones identity, and “that irresistible sense that you have to change something in your life or everything will fall apart anyway.”
Lilly Wachowski addressed this reading of the film while accepting a GLAAD award with her sister in 2016.
“There’s a critical eye being cast back on Lana and I’s work through the lens of our transness,” she said.
“This is a cool thing because it’s an excellent reminder that art is never static. And while the ideas of identity and transformation are critical components in our work, the bedrock that all ideas rest upon is love.”
