'Interstellar': Read Christopher Nolan's "Lost Chapter" in Comic-Book Form

Yes, Interstellar is almost three hours long – but there’s more you haven’t seen. A “lost chapter” of Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi blockbuster appears in comic-book form in the new issue of Wired. Written by the director himself, with art by Sean Gordon Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth, and Tana Ford, the mini-comic (which you can read here) reveals how a certain Interstellar character began his descent into madness.

[Spoiler alert!] ”Absolute Zero” follows a day in the life of Dr. Mann (Matt Damon), who, prior to the events of the film, led NASA’s Lazarus missions to find a hospitable planet on the other side of the wormhole. In Interstellar, explorers Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), and Romilly (David Gyasi) land on Mann’s ice planet, where they’re delighted to learn that the planet’s surface can support human life. Unfortunately, they soon discover that Mann has been collecting false data, in hopes that other explorers would land on his planet and relieve him of his loneliness.

The prequel comic shows Mann wrestling with isolation in his space station, as he begins to give up hope that he’ll ever see another person again. The groundwork for his deception is already in place. Most intriguingly, the comic shows the interaction between Mann and his robot KIPP, who has been deactivated when we meet them in Interstellar. “Absolute Zero” raises the question: Was Mann’s friendship with a robot the one thing that was helping him hold on to his humanity? As Slate points out, the comic also contains a sly tribute to Interstellar star and frequent Christopher Nolan collaborator Michael Caine, whose birthplace – “Bermondsey” — is the command that appears to silence KIPP forever.

For more deep dives into Interstellar, check out our full coverage on Yahoo Movies.

Photo/Images: Paramount, Sean Gordon Murphy/WIRED