Christopher Nolan and Wife Emma Thomas Attend 'Oppenheimer' N.Y.C. Premiere Without Cast amid SAG Strike

The cast was notably absent from the movie's premiere in New York City Monday, last appearing at the U.K premiere Thursday ahead of the strike announcement

Christopher Nolan was without his Oppenheimer cast at the film's New York City premiere amid the recently announced SAG-AFTRA strike.

The director appeared alongside wife Emma Thomas at Monday's event, where its stars — including Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett and more — were notably absent.

Nolan, 52, wore a dark-gray suit and silver tie with black shoes, while film producer Thomas, 51, rocked a black midi-length dress with matching peep-toe pumps.

Oppenheimer's N.Y.C. premiere came four days after its U.K. premiere in London on Thursday, where its stars walked the red carpet but left soon after to support the then-impending strike.

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Related: Robert Downey Jr. Declares 'Oppenheimer' the 'Best Film I've Ever Been In'

Speaking to an audience from onstage at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London Thursday, Nolan said, "We have to acknowledge, you've seen them here earlier on the red carpet. Unfortunately, they're off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by SAG."

"Joining one of my guilds, the Writer's Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of their union, and we support them," the director added, as seen in video shared by Deadline.

Soon after, leadership for SAG-AFTRA (aka the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) announced that the union would go on strike Friday, with union president Fran Drescher and national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland writing in a memo that members were ordered “to cease rendering all services and performing all work covered by the TV/Theatrical Contracts” once the strike began.

Ahead of Nolan's comments, Blunt, 40, told Deadline she hopes "everyone makes a fair deal and we're here to just celebrate this movie."

But she was prepared for what ended up being the case, adding, "If they call [a strike], we’ll be leaving together as a cast in unity with everyone. … We're gonna have to. We're gonna have to. So we'll see what happens. But right now, it’s the joy to be together."

Related: Christopher Nolan Says He Won’t Direct Another Superhero Movie After 'Dark Knight' Trilogy

Damon, 52, told the same outlet that despite some of the difficulties a strike would pose professionally, including for his newly launched independent studio with longtime friend Ben Affleck, a fair deal was the priority.

"It's brutal for our sister unions," he added. "And it's gonna be tough for 160,000 actors. Nobody wants a work stoppage."

"But if our leadership is saying that the deal isn’t fair, then we gotta hold strong until we get a deal that’s fair for working actors," Damon said. "It’s the difference between having healthcare and not for a lot of actors, and we gotta do what’s right by them."

"I stand by my colleagues — that's all I can say to you, really," Murphy, 47, told Irish outlet RTÉ.

Oppenheimer is in U.S. theaters July 21.

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