Christopher Nolan’s Warner Bros. Return Can Make His Most Exciting Sequel Possible

Blockbuster auteur Christopher Nolan recently spoke about the possibility of returning to Warner Bros. in the future, and if that’s the case, he should definitely consider making a sequel for one particular movie in his filmography. Nolan and Warner Bros. have a complicated history that resulted in the director’s transition to Universal Studios shortly before the conception of Oppenheimer, but given the huge success of that project, the studio will likely want to get the director back on their side — and Nolan returning to Warner Bros. suddenly seems much more plausible.

Nolan doesn’t usually make sequels to his movies — the Dark Knight Trilogy being an exception — but it’s something that audiences have been requesting for an extremely long time. Though most of his projects end fairly conclusively, there’s one movie in the director’s catalog that still has plenty of potential to expand in the future and provide audiences with another narrative in this universe.

Christopher Nolan Returning To Warner Bros. Means Tenet 2 Can Happen

Tenet might not have been Christopher Nolan’s most successful or acclaimed project, but it’s undeniably the one that left the most potential for a sequel. Since the movie was produced during Nolan’s time at Warner Bros., the property technically belongs to the studio, and it would have been extremely difficult for the director to return to this universe. But if Warner Bros. makes an effort to get Nolan back, Tenet is one of those properties that he could easily return to.

The relationship between Nolan and Warner Bros. had been strong ever since the studio decided to give him complete control over his filmography in 2005, starting with Batman Begins. However, the pair clashed over the studio’s decision to release all their movies simultaneously on streaming in 2021, forcing the director to back down from their partnership and essentially sacrifice the rights to everything he’d done with them in the past. However, since Warner Bros. isn’t moving forward with simultaneous HBO releases anymore, there’s no reason that Nolan couldn’t return to the studio and make Tenet 2 happen.

Tenet 2 Is Easily Christopher Nolan’s Most Exciting Sequel Option

There are other movies in Christopher Nolan’s filmography that he could potentially make sequels to, including Dunkirk and Inception, but these projects have fairly concrete conclusions that don’t really leave the door open for Nolan to return to them. Tenet is the only movie that leaves plenty of material on the table for a potential sequel, including the budding friendship between the Protagonist and Neil that wasn’t fully resolved during the ending of Tenet. This is something that Nolan could definitely return to in the future.

The concept of time running backward is one of Nolan’s most creative and fascinating ideas, and it opens the door to countless narratives within this universe. The story of Tenet is just one of an endless number of stories that could take advantage of this plot device, and even if Nolan didn’t want to continue the Protagonist’s narrative, it would seem like a waste if he never returned to Tenet’s universe to take advantage of time inversion again.

Why Tenet 2 Needs To Happen Sooner Than Later

However, if Tenet 2 is going to happen, it needs to happen soon. Since the original wasn’t necessarily one of Nolan’s most beloved or successful projects, time is running out for the director to capitalize on its success and keep audiences invested in the property. After the huge success of Oppenheimer, viewers might be beginning to forget about Tenet and lose interest in the narrative. The success of the project essentially relies on how quickly and effectively Nolan makes the transition back to Warner Bros. if it happens at all.

Even lead actor John David Washington has been advocating for Tenet 2 since the original’s release, but that was over three years ago, and it’s unclear whether a sequel would be able to coast off the success of its predecessor. Nolan would really have to create some interest in the project in order for it to happen, but thankfully, that’s something that the director has proven himself capable of several times before. It’s also likely, given the success of Oppenheimer, that Warner Bros. would spend plenty of money on marketing and promotion for Tenet 2 if Nolan returned, in order to ensure that it made maximum profit.