Co-Director Of “The Matrix” Is Developing LGBTQ+ NY Times Bestselling Graphic Novel “Hell Followed With Us” Into Feature-Length Anime Film With Powerhouse Animation Producing

Talk about a lot of flowers being delivered in one report. Andrew Joseph White’s NY Times bestselling graphic novel Hell Followed With Us is being adapted into a feature-length animated film produced by Lilly Wachowski (The Matrix) and Powerhouse Animation producing. Here’s the synopsis from the book:

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
 
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.    
 
Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.

Our Take

Feature-length animation for older audiences is catching on! Now we’ve got the big players in on it, LFG!!

[h/t: Deadline]