Is Tenet an Inception sequel? How the farfetched theory could come true

It would be one of cinema’s best kept secrets

Since the announcement of Tenet, many have been wondering whether the new film will be a sequel to Christopher Nolan‘s Inception.

Despite this thought seemingly being refuted by the film’s lead star, John David Washington, there are still many people who are doubling down on the theory.

This is largely because Tenet is the most Inception-like film Nolan has directed since the blockbuster was released 10 years ago – a highly original sci-fi idea presented in a world where it’s unclear what is real and what isn’t.

While very little is known about Tenet, which will finally be released on 26 August after several delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the trailer (as well as teases from Nolan himself) has positioned this new film as precisely that.

Whereas Inception was focused on inducing dreams in someone’s mind, Tenet – a thriller set in “a twilight world of international espionage” – will instead be focused on what Nolan has called “time inversion”.

Again, not much is known about what he means, but the trailer shows a sequence in which the characters are moving through a world where everything around them is moving backwards in time. In other words, expect incredible scenes akin to the one in Inception that sees Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character fight in a hotel corridor while floating around in zero gravity.

Why do people think Tenet is related to Inception? Firstly, numerous Reddit posts have predicted that the tech featured in the new film could be the same that is used by Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and company for their mission. It would be no stretch to assume that the agency who provides them with the devices they use to “incept” people also supplies Washington and Robert Pattinson‘s characters with what they need to complete their job in the new film.

As is the norm with Nolan films, Michael Caine will once again return for a small role in Tenet. Interestingly, though, some are wondering whether he will be reprising the role of Professor Stephen Miles, Cobb’s father-in-law in Inception.

In that film, he serves to help fill the viewers in on Cobb’s situation, and considering Tenet‘s plot seems just as intricate, it would be a good idea to reintroduce him for this reason alone. Moreover, it would undoubtedly excite fans if they were to be given an update on Cobb, not to mention whether or not that spinning top fell or not in Inception’s closing moments (even though Caine claimed to know the answer to this years ago).

Regardless, it remains outrageous to think that Tenet will be a direct sequel to Inception, but – if there is any relation at all – it will surely be that the two are set in the same universe. Backing this up is Washington, who described the film as “an in-law” to Inception.

Could Michael Caine’s ‘Inception’ character appear in ‘Tenet’? (Warner Bros)

Other factors adding to people’s theories have been generated thanks to the film’s distributor, Warner Bros.

Bosses have been insistent on releasing Tenet this year despite numerous high-profile film releases being shifted to 2021 in the wake of the pandemic. Tenet, which was originally set to be unveiled in July, has remained on the release schedules the entire time, leading some to question whether this was fuelled by the knowledge that it coincided with Inception’s 10th anniversary.

Also, adding fuel to the fire is the fact that Inception is getting re-released before Tenet. While mainly being a ploy to lure people back into cinemas now lockdown guidelines have been lifted, it would also be a clever tactic to familiarise future Tenet viewers with the events of a film it could have several links to.

Our prediction is that Tenet will be its own film – yet another ambitious project from the mind of Nolan. Depending on where you are in the world, you will all be able to draw your own conclusions once the film is finally released in Europe on 26 August.