Tenet

Tenet is Christopher Nolan’s 2020 science-fiction action thriller about an operative known as the Protagonist, played by John David Washington, who joins a covert organization trying to prevent a global catastrophe. His mission introduces “inversion,” a process that reverses an object or person’s entropy and makes events appear to move backward through time. Robert Pattinson plays Neil, Elizabeth Debicki plays Kat and Kenneth Branagh plays arms dealer Andrei Sator. Rather than presenting a conventional time-travel story, the film builds its espionage plot around opposing temporal directions, large-format photography and action staged both forward and in reverse. This page covers Nolan’s theatrical feature, not similarly named books, companies or television episodes. Its structure asks viewers to track cause and effect across interlocking sequences rather than relying only on explanatory dialogue to organize the experience.

Where to watch (checked October 9, 2026): Streaming, rental and purchase options differ by country and may change. Confirm the 2020 Christopher Nolan film and your local catalog before subscribing or paying.

Key facts

• Christopher Nolan wrote, directed and produced the film.
• John David Washington plays the Protagonist alongside Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh.
• The theatrical version runs approximately 150 minutes.
• The film won the Academy Award for visual effects and was nominated for production design.

Official sources: Warner Bros. film page; Academy Awards.