The trailer for Christopher Nolan’s next movie, “Tenet,” made a surprise debut in theaters Thursday night.

A 40-second teaser screened ahead of preview showings of “Hobbs & Shaw,” sources tell Variety. The trailer has not yet hit the web, and it’s currently unclear when it will.

According to social media reports, the teaser only shows star John David Washington, along with the tagline “It’s time for a new protagonist.”

The secret theater debut doesn’t come as too much of a surprise when it comes to Nolan, who has long been a proponent of the theatrical experience. He’s refused to go the way of many other prominent filmmakers and debut his movies on Netflix, telling Variety in a 2017 cover story, “My entire adult life they have released straight-to-video films. As a filmmaker, when I was starting out in the ’90s, your nightmare was the straight-to-video release. There’s nothing new about it — what’s different and new about it is selling it to Wall Street as innovation or disruption.”

Little information is currently available about “Tenet,” other than the fact that it’s an action epic evolving from the world of international espionage. Alongside Washington, the cast also includes Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Pattinson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kenneth Branagh, Clémence Poésy, Dimple Kapadia and Michael Caine.

Nolan is directing from his own original screenplay. Warner Bros. is set to release “Tenet” on July 17, 2020.