Top 10 Craziest Fan Theories About Tenet

As is often the case with Christopher Nolan movies, “Tenet” features an impressive ensemble cast, but John David Washington gets top billing as the film’s leading man. Best known for his work on HBO’s “Ballers” and his Golden Globe-nominated performance in “BlacKkKlansman”, Washington seems poised to become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after stars. As Reddit user PyroTheRebel suggests however, filmmaker Christopher Nolan could be looking to not only use John David Washington in the film, but his famous father, Denzel Washington, as well. The latter could play the protagonist’s father, or even an older version of him - which would certainly fit with the time-related themes. It wouldn’t be the first time Nolan snuck a big-name star into one of his movies.

We promised you crazy, and we aim to deliver! In an interesting bit of marketing, one of the trailers for “Tenet” debuted within the massively popular video game, “Fortnite”. Nolan is famously a champion of seeing films on the big screen, but with theaters closed in May of 2020, Nolan opted to have the then-newest trailer play at the outdoor theater on the in-game party royale island. And you know what, the end result is pretty cool! Over at shortlist.com however, they’re theorizing that there’s more to the move that meets the eye and that the entire film is “just another chapter in the Fortnite saga.” The theory’s likely meant as simply a joke, but hey, Christopher “Inception” Nolan is always operating on different levels, right?

The word “tenet” means a strong belief or fundamental principle, and is usually used in reference to a philosophy or other ideology. And it’s clear from the trailers that the stakes are incredibly high in this film. But what, we ask… could be worse than armageddon, as Clémence Poésy’s character suggests? Well, what if “Tenet” isn’t just a cool code word, but rather a nod to religious mythology? In the trailer, Martin Donovan’s character welcomes the Protagonist to the afterlife. We assumed he meant metaphorically… but what if he didn’t? A literal battle between angels and demons (or maybe even the devil himself), for the fate of heaven, earth and hell is Armageddon, but the devil is — literally — in the details. Far-fetched? Maybe...

After entertaining the idea that this film could be about angels and demons, we really only left ourselves with one place to go next. Reddit user scorpion0511 doesn’t dive too deep when outlining their extraterrestrial theory for this film, instead making a series of associative leaps. Based on the plot elements and the film’s title, the post highlights religion, quantum mechanics and foreboding premonitions of a catastrophic future as the key pillars of the story. The conclusion? When you bring these three elements together, at least according to scorpion0511, all signs point to an alien invasion or, more specifically “someone...summoning Ancient Aliens”. If this somehow turns out to be the case, scorpion0511 might become a Reddit legend.

You know what? We were wrong. An alien invasion wasn’t the only place we had left to go. This is weirder. Christopher Nolan’s films, more often than not, usually fall under the category of science fiction. Hell, even when he made a film about feuding magicians, everything still boiled down to sci-fi! The filmmaker’s track record be damned, however, it's been posited that Nolan could be throwing a curveball at us by using technology in the trailers to mislead audiences, and that the time inversions we’re seeing take place onscreen are actually magic. According to this theory, Kenneth Brannagh is an evil wizard, and the characters played by John David Washington and Robert Pattinson are members of a good wizard group attempting to stop his nefarious magical plot.

As we’ve seen, if there’s one line in the trailers that fans can’t help but fixate on, it’s this one: welcome to the afterlife. In the trailers, we see the Protagonist being force-fed a pill in a train yard. He then collapses, before waking up in a hospital bed. Given that he “passed the test”, we assume this afterlife is a metaphorical one- a new life as a member of the secretive Tenet organization. But what if David Washington literally died and is actually being tasked with this mission in the afterlife? Being an undead operative could come with the ability to navigate time in reverse, or the action could be occurring in some odd, not so paradise-like afterlife where the laws of time and space work differently.

For Nolan’s sake, we really hope that this isn’t the case. Because this concept has already been explored -and iconically so- by the Wachowskis with their 1999 masterpiece, “The Matrix”. And if Nolan chooses to retread this conceptual territory, we’d hope that he would avoid so much overlap with the aforementioned franchise - specifically the car chase. With all that being said, here’s what this particular theory suggests. The Tenet organization uses advanced simulation technology to recreate crime scenes and major events. Within this interactive space, their agents are able to get to the bottom of the plot and (theoretically), stop it before it reaches its conclusion in the future. So basically it's derivative of “The Matrix” and “Source Code”. We hope not!

This might not be our top entry, but it’s certainly a favorite. It’s just so delightfully silly. Sadly, the Reddit user who posted this theory has since deleted their account, but our hats off to you, you mystery genius. According to this theory, John David Washington’s Protagonist isn’t a secret agent, he’s a claims adjustor working for a top secret spy agency. As the reddit user describes it, the character “arrives at the scene, works backwards to assess the damage, files his report, and goes home at the end of the day.” And that’s it! He’s just a numbers guy. John David Washington actually responded to this particular theory, and jokingly deemed it to be the truth!

The word “tenet” is a palindrome. For those who are unfamiliar with this term, a palindrome is a word, phrase or sequence of numbers that reads the same both forwards and backwards. Other examples include “kayak”, “reviver” and the sentence “"Murder for a jar of red rum". But since this film also seems to involve certain events playing out in reverse, reddit user DeeptanshuSinha, has suggested that the film’s narrative structure will be a palindrome that ends and begins in the same place. Nolan has been toying with experimental narrative structures as far back as “Memento”, so as massive of an undertaking as it would be to make a film that functions as a palindrome, this theory feels both crazy and... strangely plausible.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

The Global Conflict Is Centered Around a Device to Manipulate Time
Characters Jump Forward in Time by a Certain Interval, and Then Live it Out Backwards
The Protagonist Starts WWIII, and Goes Back to Unwittingly Stop Himself
The Entire Plot Is the Death Hallucination of the Protagonist
The Movie Starts in the Middle of Two Timelines and Plays Out in Both Directions

We know. How does the most popular and widely circulated fan theory claim the top spot on our “craziest” list - especially up against the likes of aliens and wizards? Simple, because this is Christopher Nolan that we’re talking about! His movies often involve jaw-dropping twists and elaborate reveals, but they’re generally contained within the movie. Yet, because of the reality-warping nature of the trailers and the themes of espionage, fans can’t help but speculate that it will either be directly linked to the events of “Inception” - or at least be set within the same universe. But wait, there’s more! Some have gone so far as to speculate that Robert Pattinson and Clémence Poésy are playing adult versions of Cobb's children. Only time will tell!