Jonathan Nolan

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title: "Jonathan Nolan" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1976-births", "american-male-screenwriters", "american-male-short-story-writers", "american-male-television-writers", "american-showrunners", "american-television-directors", "american-television-writers", "british-showrunners", "english-emigrants-to-the-united-states", "english-male-screenwriters", "english-male-television-writers", "english-people-of-american-descent", "english-short-story-writers", "english-television-directors", "english-television-writers", "family-of-christopher-nolan", "film-producers-from-illinois", "film-producers-from-london", "georgetown-university-alumni", "living-people", "screenwriters-from-chicago", "television-producers-from-illinois", "television-producers-from-london", "british-television-show-creators", "writers-from-london"] description: "British and American screenwriter (born 1976)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Nolan" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British and American screenwriter (born 1976) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Jonathan Nolan
image	Jonathan Nolan at SXSW 2024.jpg
caption	Nolan in 2024
birth_name	Jonathan Nolan
birth_date
birth_place	London, England
other_names	Jonah Nolan
citizenship
alma_mater	Georgetown University
occupation
years active	1997–present
spouse
children	2
relatives	{{Plain list
::

| name = Jonathan Nolan | image = Jonathan Nolan at SXSW 2024.jpg | caption = Nolan in 2024 | birth_name = Jonathan Nolan | birth_date = | birth_place = London, England | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = Jonah Nolan | citizenship = | alma_mater = Georgetown University | occupation = | years active = 1997–present | spouse = | children = 2 | relatives = {{Plain list|

• Christopher Nolan (brother)
• John Nolan (uncle)
• Emma Thomas (sister-in-law) Jonathan Nolan (born 6 June 1976) is a British and American screenwriter and producer. He is the creator of the CBS science fiction series Person of Interest (2011–2016) and co-creator of the HBO science fiction/Western series Westworld (2016–2022).

Nolan has collaborated on several films with his brother, film director Christopher Nolan, who adapted Jonathan's short story "Memento Mori" into the neo-noir thriller film Memento (2000). Together, the brothers co-wrote the mystery-thriller film The Prestige (2006), the superhero films The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and the science-fiction film Interstellar (2014). In 2024, he executive produced and directed the first three episodes of the television series adaptation of Fallout.

Nolan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Memento, and for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Westworld.

Early life

Nolan was born on 6 June 1976 in London, the youngest of three boys. His father Brendan James Nolan, is British, and his mother, Christina Lynn (née Jensen), is American. He was raised in both London and Chicago. Nolan attended Georgetown University, where he majored in English and was a staff writer for The Hoya.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Jonathan_Nolan_2_cropped.jpg" caption="Nolan at the [[Paley Center for Media]] in 2012"] ::

Nolan's short story "Memento Mori" was used by his older brother, director Christopher Nolan, as the basis for the film Memento.

In 2005, Jonathan and Christopher co-wrote the screenplay for The Prestige, which is based on Christopher Priest's novel of the same title. The brothers collaborated on the screenplay for the 2008 film The Dark Knight. The film went on to become the most financially successful Batman film, which has since been surpassed by its sequel, The Dark Knight Rises.

On 10 February 2011, CBS picked up Nolan's pilot Person of Interest. The show was officially picked up by CBS on 13 May 2011 to air in fall 2011. The series ran for five seasons and starred Jim Caviezel, Taraji P. Henson and Michael Emerson. Nolan served as executive producer along with J. J. Abrams.

Nolan wrote the screenplay for Interstellar, a science-fiction feature based on the works of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who served as the film's executive producer. Christopher Nolan co-wrote, directed and produced the film, with Paramount distributing domestically, while Warner Bros. distributed internationally.

Nolan and Lisa Joy wrote a pilot for an adaptation of Westworld, Michael Crichton's 1973 science fiction Western thriller of the same name. On 31 August 2013, it was announced that HBO had ordered a pilot for a show, with Nolan, Joy, Weintraub, J. J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk as executive producers, and Nolan making his directorial debut. The pilot was subsequently picked up to series, with Nolan and Joy as co-showrunners, and premiered on 2 October 2016. In November 2016, HBO renewed the show for a 10-episode second season, that started in April 2018. On 1 May 2018, following the first two episodes of Season 2, the series was renewed for a third season.

In 2019, it was announced that Nolan and Joy had signed a $150 million deal to create The Peripheral for Amazon Prime Video. Since they signed on, they earned at least $20 million a year as part of their first-look deal with Amazon Studios. Alongside The Peripheral, they executive produced the series Fallout, based on the popular video game series in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios, as part of the deal. In 2025, it was reported Nolan and Joy had signed on to executive produce the series Wolfenstein, also based on the game series by Bethesda Softworks, in collaboration with developer MachineGames for Prime Video.

Personal life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Evan_Rachel_Wood,Jonathan_Nolan&Lisa_Joy(35419191223).jpg" caption="Nolan with [[Evan Rachel Wood]] (''left'') and [[Lisa Joy]] (''right'') at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con promoting ''Westworld''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Jonathan_Nolan_and_Janna_Levin_at_the_Sundance_Film_Festival_2024-9375.jpg" caption="Nolan interviewed by astrophysics professor [[Janna Levin]] at the [[2024 Sundance Film Festival]] event "Science vs. Fiction""] ::

In a 2006 interview, Nolan claimed that after moving to Chicago at a young age, his English accent proved to be "very unpopular" and so he learnt to "sound like a good Chicago kid."

When contemplating the artistic differences between himself and his brother, Nolan remarked: "I've always suspected that it has something to do with the fact that he's left-handed and I'm right-handed, because he is somehow able to look at my ideas and flip them around in a way that's just a bit more twisted and interesting. It's great to be able to work with him that way."

Nolan is married to Burn Notice writer and Westworld co-creator and executive producer Lisa Joy. They have a daughter and a son together.

Filmography

Film

Writer

• Memento (2000)
• The Prestige (2006)
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
• Interstellar (2014)

Uncredited writer

• Batman Begins (2005)
• Terminator Salvation (2009)

Producer

• Reminiscence (2021)

Storyboards

• Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) (Direct-to-video)

Starring as himself

• Do You Trust This Computer? (2018)

Television

::data[format=table] | Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | Ref. | Creator | Writer | Director | Executive producer | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 2011–2016 | Person of Interest | | | | | Writer (9 episodes), director (1 episode) | | | | 2016–2022 | Westworld | | | | | Writer (13 episodes), director (3 episodes) | url=http://tvline.com/2013/08/31/hbo-westworld-pilot-jj-abrams-jonathan-nolan/|title=HBO Greenlights Sci-Fi Pilot Westworld From J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan|last=Gelman|first=Vlada|date=31 August 2013|work=TVLine|access-date=3 September 2014|archive-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015053122/http://tvline.com/2013/08/31/hbo-westworld-pilot-jj-abrams-jonathan-nolan/|url-status=dead}} | | | 2022 | The Peripheral | | | | | | | | | 2024–present | Fallout | | | | | Director (3 episodes) | | | ::

Publications

; Short fiction

• "Memento Mori" (2001) – short story basis for Memento (2000)

References

References

1. Flans, Lindsay. (6 June 2013). "FilmDistrict's Kimberly Smith Weds, Producer-Director Neil Mandt Engaged: Hitched, Hatched, Hired". The Hollywood Reporter.
2. "Jonathan Nolan". [[Rotten Tomatoes]].
3. McGrath, Amanda. (17 May 2002). "Class of 2002 Gathers For Senior Convocation". [[The Hoya]].
4. Taylor, Judd. (16 February 2002). "The Memento Screenplay Category Controversy: Memento is an Adapted Screenplay".
5. Adler, Shawn. (July 3, 2008). "'Batman: Gotham Knight' Offers Anime Mutant, Cyborg Versions Of The Dark Knight".
6. "Christopher Nolan: The Movies. The Memories.". [[Empire (magazine).
7. White, James. (10 September 2010). "Jonah Nolan Pitching TV Crime Thriller". [[Empire (magazine).
8. (9 January 2013). "Christopher Nolan in Talks to Direct 'Interstellar' for Paramount and Warner Bros. (Exclusive)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
9. Sperling, Nicole. (8 March 2013). "Christopher Nolan's time-travel film 'Interstellar' to bow in 2014". [[Los Angeles Times]].
10. Finke, Nikki. (8 March 2013). "Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar' To Be Paramount-Warner Bros Co-Production And Joint Distribution".
11. Hayden, Erik. (8 March 2013). "It's Official: Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar' to be Warner Bros., Paramount Co-Production". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
12. Gelman, Vlada. (31 August 2013). "HBO Greenlights Sci-Fi Pilot Westworld From J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan". TVLine.
13. Porter, Rick. (24 April 2018). "Sunday cable ratings: 'Westworld' Season 2 opens on par with series debut". TV by the Numbers.
14. Andreeva, Nellie. (14 November 2016). "'Westworld', 'Divorce' & 'Insecure' Renewed For Season 2 By HBO".
15. (1 May 2018). "'Westworld' Renewed For Season 3 By HBO".
16. Goldberg, Lesley. (13 November 2019). "'Westworld' Creators' Futuristic Drama 'The Peripheral' Gets Amazon Pickup". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
17. Masters, Kim. (3 April 2023). "Inside Amazon Studios: Big Swings Hampered by Confusion and Frustration".
18. Moreau, Jordan. (25 October 2022). "Amazon's 'Fallout' Series From 'Westworld' Creators Gives a First Look at Its Vault 33".
19. Otterson, Joe. (2025-07-25). "‘Wolfenstein’ TV Series in Development at Amazon From ‘Fallout’ Producer Kilter Films, Patrick Somerville (EXCLUSIVE)".
20. Roberts, Sheila. "Jonathan Nolan Interview, The Prestige". Movies Online.
21. ADMIN. (30 June 2010). "Theatre of the Mind: A Christopher Nolan Profile (Part 1)". flickeringmyth.com.
22. Goldberg, Lesley. (14 July 2011). "Comic-Con 2011: 'Person of Interest' EPs Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman on Stormtroopers and Spandex (Q&A)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
23. (19 August 2014). "On The Rise 2014: 13 Screenwriters To Watch". Indie Wire.
24. Bissell, Tom. (15 December 2016). "On the Ranch with the Creators of "Westworld"".
25. King, Larry. (15 April 2014). "What Does A Showrunner Bring To A Deserted Island?".
26. (29 September 2016). "Is 'Westworld' HBO's Next Big Hit?". The New York Times.
27. "''Interstellar'' poster billing block".
28. (7 November 2016). "'Westworld' Creators Explore The 'Dark Thrills' Of The Digital Age".
29. Sciretta, Peter. (28 April 2009). "Confirmed: Jonathan Nolan Not Credited For Terminator Salvation".
30. Sancton, Julian. (27 May 2009). "Did Christian Bale's Seriousness Ruin Terminator Salvation?". [[Vanity Fair (magazine).
31. Andreeva, Nellie. (10 February 2011). "CBS Picks Up Jonah Nolan/J.J. Abrams Pilot 'Person Of Interest'".
32. Gelman, Vlada. (31 August 2013). "HBO Greenlights Sci-Fi Pilot Westworld From J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan". [[TVLine]].
33. Maas, Jennifer. (13 November 2019). "Amazon Greenlights Sci-Fi Series 'The Peripheral' From 'Westworld' Creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy".
34. Breznican, Anthony. (November 28, 2023). "'Fallout' First Look: This Is How the World Ends—With a Smiling Thumbs-Up".
35. Kim, Matt. (1 July 2020). "Fallout TV Show In the Works at Amazon From Westworld Creators".

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