A Christopher Nolan deep cut is getting a remake — not the way you’d expect
Christopher Nolan’s most underrated early film is being reimagined — and the medium it’s headed for is the last one you’d guess.
Well, this is a twist I didn’t see coming: Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia is up for a TV reboot, only this time, it's set to go British. The 2002 film—that’s the one with Al Pacino up against Robin Williams in foggy Alaska—might end up as a UK series, if the latest chatter is any guide. I know, you'd expect more Batman spinoffs before someone picked up this particular psychological thriller, but here we are.
This nugget comes from a Deadline report, which says Alcon International Studios (yes, that’s a newish offshoot of Alcon Entertainment) is poking around their library for properties to adapt into British TV shows. Their shortlist includes Insomnia, though at this point, there's not a whiff of detail about how (or even when) it'll get made. No word yet on a cast, writers, even a possible streaming home—just that it’s on the whiteboard somewhere at Alcon HQ.
Alcon is also behind a new Point Break TV series—not exactly slowing down on the remakes front.
Now, the big unknown: is Christopher Nolan himself going to be involved? Honestly, no one’s said a thing about Nolan being attached. Judging by his usual pattern (which mostly involves steering clear of projects he’s already finished or remakes of his own work), I wouldn’t hold your breath. For those keeping up, this would mark the second time Insomnia’s shifted forms—the Nolan version was itself a remake of a well-received 1997 Norwegian film by Erik Skjoldbjærg.
The Film's Not-So-Sleepy Legacy
For anyone who slept on it, Insomnia follows Los Angeles detective Will Dormer—Al Pacino being suitably haggard—who’s shipped off to Alaska to work a murder case. Cue icy landscapes and top-tier insomnia, as Dormer tangles with Williams’ quietly menacing Walter Finch. It’s a rare example of Robin Williams going dark, and the film landed well with critics—scoring a punchy 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film pulled in over $113 million at the global box office—solid numbers for a slow-burn crime drama in the early 2000s.
Of note: it's the only time Nolan has done a straight-up remake—he’s normally all about original scripts or massive adaptations, like his last outing with The Odyssey, which cleaned up both at the box office (now at $1.7 billion globally) and with reviewers. Unlike his usual tendency to re-use his favourite actors (the likes of Murphy, Bale, or literally anyone called Michael Caine), Nolan didn’t revisit Insomnia’s cast for later films. A bit odd, given his usual habits.
Where Nolan goes next is anyone’s guess—he’s been tight-lipped since The Odyssey landed. Meanwhile, the idea of a British TV Insomnia is officially somewhere in the pipeline, waiting for someone to actually put it together.