'Tenet' Trailer: Christopher Nolan Returns With An Exciting New Action-Thriller

Christopher Nolan is back with Tenet, a big, mysterious action-thriller featuring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Clémence Poésy, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh. Like most Nolan projects, close to zero details have trickled out about the plot – and that's just the way the filmmaker likes it. I'm sure if it were up to him, there wouldn't be a single trailer for this film. For now, we'll have to try to decipher what we've been given. Watch the Tenet trailer below.

Set in the world of international espionage, Tenet marks Nolan's first return to filmmaking since his Oscar-nominated 2017 film Dunkirk. While the film contains the large-scale, cerebral filmmaking we've come to expect from Nolan, it also finds the director departing from some of his past trademarks. His usual soundtrack collaborator Hans Zimmer isn't involved here – instead, Ludwig Göransson is handling the score.

But perhaps most surprising of all is the fact that Lee Smith isn't editing the pic. Smith has edited all of Nolan's films since Batman Begins. But Smith is busy editing Sam Mendes' 1917, so Nolan turned to editor Jennifer Lame to put Tenet together. Lame's credits include Manchester by the Sea, Frances Ha, and Hereditary. Editors play a huge part in the creation of a movie, so it's going to be highly interesting to see what a new Nolan film without Lee Smith looks like.

"We're jumping off from the point of view of an espionage film, but we're going to a number of different places," Nolan told EW. "We're crossing a few different genres in a hopefully exciting and fresh way. [Producer] Emma [Thomas] and I have put together a lot of large-scale productions, but this is certainly the biggest in terms of international reach. We shot in seven countries, all over the place, with a massive cast and huge set pieces. There's no question, it's the most ambitious film we've made."

On top of all that, while Nolan has worked with cast members Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh, the bulk of the cast here are people he's directing for the very first time. In short, don't expect Tenet to be the same-old, same-old from the filmmaker.

Tenet opens July 17, 2020.