Lupita Nyong’o to Star in Christopher Nolan’s Top-Secret Next Film
Lupita Nyong’o is the newest star to join Christopher Nolan’s mysterious new film for Universal Pictures.
The Hollywood Reporter scoops that Nyong’o is the latest big name to board Nolan’s next film, joining Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Zendaya. Of course, Nolan will direct his own script, and Universal has slated the film for a July 17, 2026, release.
Speculating what Nolan’s new film will be is part of the fun every time the writer/director starts populating his new project. Oppenheimer, his Oscar-winning juggernaut from 2023, was the rare Nolan film where the subject was well-known thanks to Nolan adapting the story from Kai Bird’s book on Robert J. Oppenheimer “American Prometheus,” but there’s no such source material as far as any insiders know at this point. There’s been thought that Nolan’s latest will be a spy thriller, a sci-fi spy thriller, or an out-and-out action thriller, but THR reports that insiders insist none of these guesses have come close to Nolan’s actual idea.
Nolan loves reuniting with former performers like Damon (in Oppenheimer and Interstellar) and Hathaway (Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises), but this will mark his first collaboration with Nyong’o. The Oscar-winning actress recently appeared in a winning Universal film, Chris Sanders‘ gorgeous animated film The Wild Robot, in which Nyong’o played the titular robot, Roz. Nyong’o also starred in Jordan Peele’s Us, in a performance that deserved an Oscar nomination, another Universal film. She won her Oscar for her performance in Steven McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and had a large part in Ryan Coogler’s two Black Panther films.
Once again, Nolan produces alongside his wife, Emma Thomas, for their Syncopy banner. Nolan and Universal’s partnership on Oppenheimer resulted in the remarkable feat of a three-hour biopic about a historical figure, a scientist at that, into a nearly billion-dollar film. Nolan earned himself the Best Director Oscar in the process, Oppenheimer won Best Picture, and the film formed half of the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon when Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was released on the same day as Nolan’s Oppenheimer, on July 21, 2023.
For more on Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film and Lupita Nyong’o’s latest, check out these stories:
Could Christopher Nolan’s Next Movie Be a Spy Thriller?
“The Wild Robot” Head of Story Heidi Jo Gilbert on Motherhood’s Many Meanings
Christopher Nolan’s Next Movie Set at Universal With Matt Damon as Potential Lead
Featured image: SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: Lupita Nyong’o poses in the IMDboat Exclusive Portrait Studio at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 at The IMDb Yacht on July 27, 2024 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for IMDb)
