What's Next for Christopher Nolan After Oppenheimer? Director Says He's "Open to Anything"

While Christopher Nolan was already riding high in Hollywood long before the release of Oppenheimer this past summer, the director's ability to spin critical acclaim — and nearly $1 billion in worldwide box office sales — out of a nonlinear character piece spanning a total three hours removes any doubt about the filmmaker being able to write his own ticket from here on out.

But where will Nolan tread next? Will he continue to examine watershed moments of the 20th century as in Dunkirk and Oppenheimer? Will he return to mind-bending, high concept genre fare like Interstellar and Tenet? Your guess, dear reader, is as good as ours. However, it's probably safe to assume that every studio in town is ready and willing to bankroll his next ambitious feature, but no plan exists at the moment. Or if one does, the usually tight-lipped storyteller isn't... well, telling.

What will Christopher Nolan direct after Oppenheimer?

Cillian Murphy (as J. Robert Oppenheimer) and writer, director, and producer Christopher Nolan on the set of OPPENHEIMER. Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

"Ideas come from everywhere,” Nolan said during a recent interview with Variety for an in-depth cover story diving into the monumental success of his World War II epic centered around theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy).

RELATED: Wait, There's a Game of Thrones Connection in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer?!

"I’ve done a remake, I’ve made adaptations from comic books and novels, and I’ve written original screenplays. I’m open to anything," he continued. "But as a writer and director, whatever I do, I have to feel like I own it completely. I have to make it original to me: The initial seed of an idea may come from elsewhere, but it has to go through my fingers on a keyboard and come out through my eyes alone."

For Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh — who served as an executive producer on 2002's Insomnia (Nolan's first big-budget studio film and the above mentioned "remake") — whatever follows in the irradiated wake of Oppenheimer will represent a brand-new epoch of Nolan's career.

RELATED: Oppenheimer Star Cillian Murphy Says Playing Father of Atomic Bomb Both 'Terrifying and Exciting'

"There was a sense that he’s been working his way toward this film,” Soderbergh told Variety. "It required all the tools and experience that he’d had up to that point to pull something like this off. This was the cinematic equivalent of a mic drop."

How to watch Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer is still playing in theaters if you haven't already checked it out on the biggest screen possible; the explosive biopic recently returned to select IMAX theaters for a limited one-week engagement. If you'd prefer to watch the movie at home, though, you'll have to wait until Tuesday, November 21 for the physical and digital releases — both of which contain three hours of bonus materials.

Looking for even more theatrical action? The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Asteroid City, Fast X, Ruby Gilman, Teenage Kraken, and Strays are also streaming.