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Matt Damon set to star in Christopher Nolan’s new movie in 2026

Wed 9 October 2024 9:51, UK

Following the success of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan will be returning to Universal for his next directorial outing, enlisting involvement from previous collaborator Matt Damon for a special 2026 release.

Nolan’s latest venture will be released in the summer of 2026, with shooting reportedly set to begin in early 2025. Although there have yet to be any further details, the director’s return to the studios following his successful Oscars sweep points towards a worthy of Hollywood stars clearing any schedules for.

Last year, Oppenheimer amassed a global $975.6million at the box office, earning Nolan a series of coveted accolades and providing a significant cultural touchpoint with its release alongside Greta Gerwig’s Margot Robbie-fronted Barbie.

The newest venture will mark the third time Damon has worked with the director, having previously featured in Interstellar and Oppenheimer.

According to Deadline, Nolan also plans to enlist a series of high-profile names for the next movie in a similar fashion to previous titles, perhaps including Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy, and a handful of others.

What were Matt Damon and Christopher Nolan’s previous movies?

Before Oppenheimer, Damon featured in Nolan’s 2014 epic Interstellar alongside Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, and Timothée Chalamet. The film follows the story of a former NASA pilot who is tasked with leading a group of researchers to identify a new planet for humans.

In the build-up to being cast in the director’s huge historical drama Oppenheimer, Damon planned to take some time off following his involvement in projects like Thor, Air, and The Last Duel. However, he told his wife at the time that he would break his hiatus on one condition only: if Nolan approached him to work on a feature.

“This is going to sound made up, but it’s actually true,” the actor shared during a previous EW’s Around the Table alongside Nolan and co-stars Murphy and Emily Blunt. “I had — not to get too personal — negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off,” he said, “I had been in Interstellar, and then Chris put me on ice for a couple of movies, so I wasn’t in the rotation, but I actually negotiated in couples therapy — this is a true story — the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called.”

In the film, Damon plays the general who oversees the entire Manhattan Project, where the country’s atomic weapons were created. However, he had no idea Nolan was planning on roping him in—his sentiment was uttered more as an unlikely break in the clause rather than something he was counting on.

As he explained during the roundtable: “This is without knowing whether or not he was working on anything, because he never tells you. He just calls you out of the blue. And so, it was a moment in my household.”