Christopher Nolan’s Groundbreaking Sci-Fi Epic Arrives on Netflix This January

Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed sci-fi epic Interstellar will land on Netflix very soon, and if you haven’t seen it yet, now’s your chance to watch one of the best science fiction films ever made.

Per the report by What’s on Netflix, on Jan. 1, Netflix subscribers will be able to get their Nolan fix by streaming the sci-fi epic starring Matthew McConaughey. Eating holiday leftovers and seeing a profound sci-fi film like Interstellar never sounded better.

Interstellar follows Joseph Cooper (McConaughey), a retired NASA test pilot who lives with his children on a farm, set in a future where humanity faces extinction. Cooper is recruited by NASA to lead a mission to find a habitable planet in another galaxy. Against his daughter’s wishes, Cooper gets on board, and departs on what’s surely a suicide mission.

What Cooper finds in outer space is unexpected; the mission partly fails, and Cooper sees his child, Murph, grow up. He witnesses her disappointment in him because he always told her he would be back. Ultimately, the mission leads to humans exploring the unknown as a result of going through a black hole. Needless to say, things get bizarre and mesmerizing.

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Interstellar stars McConaughey alongside a renowned cast, including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, John Lithgow, Jessica Chastain, Ellen Burstyn, and Nolan regular Michael Caine. Upon release, it became one of 2014’s most notable blockbusters, grossing over $726 million at the global box office. It was also nominated for five Academy Awards, ultimately winning a single award in the Best Visual Effects category.

In 2024, the film was re-released in theaters as a celebration of its legacy. Some viewers were fortunate enough to see it again in theaters during a run that was so popular, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. expanded the release to other countries that weren’t originally going to see the re-release. This theatrical re-release included IMAX shows, which is, of course, the way Nolan wants you to see his films. We won’t exactly argue against the auteur’s wishes.

Christopher Nolan’s Vision is Unmatched, and ‘Interstellar’ was the Definite Proof

Ten years ago, Nolan released a film that would heavily change the way we experienced science fiction. Not only because Interstellar was a deeply compelling feature, but because, as usual, Nolan bent the rules of cinematic storytelling and did his best to make a realistic sci-fi film. Yes, it’s a contradiction because, in theory, sci-fi is anything but real. But somehow, he did it and achieved his vision of a dystopian film that uses some real facts.

At least in theory. The script written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan (The Dark Knight) was originally set to be directed by Steven Spielberg, after he found the outline by theoretical physicist Kip Thorne to be fascinating. Nevertheless, the project landed in Nolan’s hands, who still followed Thorne’s rules to make a film based on the physicist’s original concept, plus Jonathan’s basic premise.

The result was Interstellar, a beautiful journey that was Nolan’s way to pay tribute to his heroes, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, and Andrei Tarkovsky. As ambitious as he always is, Nolan also pushed to provide authenticity to the experience. From the soundscape to the production design and visual effects, everything in Interstellar functions in line with Nolan’s ultimate achievement: To make you believe in the impossible.