Christopher Nolan’s New Remake Would End A 22-Year Drought After His 92% Rotten Tomatoes Hit

The news that Christopher Nolan’s next movie could be a remake of The Prisoner means the director may revisit a career trend after a lengthy 22 years. Christopher Nolan’s career has seen the filmmaker adapt all manner of source material to the screen. The director’s acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy turned Batman comics into gritty crime thrillers haunted by moral ambiguity, while 2023’s Oscar-winning Oppenheimer saw him bring the biography American Prometheus to life as an immersive portrait of the titular troubled physicist. However, not all of Christopher Nolan’s movies are based on literary inspirations, including a rumored upcoming project.

Although rumors persisted that Nolan would direct Bond 26, the filmmaker’s next project is now said to be a remake of the iconic ‘60s TV series The Prisoner. A psychedelic British sci-fi mystery, The Prisoner follows the story of a man who wakes up trapped in a mysterious village and spends the miniseries attempting to uncover his captors and escape this trippy purgatory. Infamous for its enigmatic atmosphere and ambiguous ending, The Prisoner has been called one of the most influential TV shows of all time. If Nolan’s next movie is The Prisoner, this would mark a career shift.

The Prisoner Will Be Christopher Nolan’s First Remake Since 2002’s Insomnia

Nolan’s last remake was an acclaimed 2002 psychological thriller

Since 2006’s The Prestige was an adaptation of a novel and his Batman movies were comic adaptations, The Prisoner would be Nolan’s first true remake since 2002’s acclaimed Insomnia. That psychological thriller was based on the 1997 Norwegian movie of the same name by director Erik Skjoldbjærg. Starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, Insomnia tells the story of a haunted detective who hunts for a clinical serial killer in an Alaskan village where the sun never sets. Insomnia was adored by reviewers upon release, earning a 92% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The remake set Nolan’s reputation in stone.

While 2000’s Memento was a major critical success, the earlier Nolan movie’s non-linear structure meant that the sleeper hit could have become a one-off for the filmmaker. Instead, Insomnia proved that Nolan’s unique storytelling style wasn’t a gimmick and the director could make a straightforward thriller that was just as tense, inventive, and effective as Memento. Similarly, remaking The Prisoner could allow Nolan to show off a trippier, more ambitious style of filmmaking. Like Insomnia, the TV miniseries remake could display a new side of the director’s oeuvre by proving that not all of Nolan’s movies are governed by logic.

How Christopher Nolan Remaking The Prisoner Will Be Different From Insomnia

The Oppenheimer director is rebooting a TV show this time around

Nolan’s remake of The Prisoner would be very different from Insomnia for numerous reasons. For one thing, he is well-established as a Hollywood hitmaker now, whereas Insomnia was his first studio movie. As such, The Prisoner’s Nolan remake could command a bigger budget. For another, Insomnia is one of Nolan’s most accessible movies in terms of the straightforward plot. Throughout his career, Nolan has been accused of over-explaining his complex plots in movies like Inception and Tenet. The Prisoner could allow Christopher Nolan to leave major questions unanswered, proving that the filmmaker can play with ambiguity while honoring the original series.