“The Odyssey” New Trailer: Matt Damon Fights His Way Home in Christopher Nolan’s Star-Studded Greek Epic with Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Many More! — In Theaters July 17th
🎥 Christopher Nolan brings Homer’s legendary epic to IMAX with Matt Damon as Odysseus, leading a stacked ensemble through gods, monsters, war, and one very long journey home.
Christopher Nolan might be the only filmmaker working today who can turn ancient Greek literature into one of the summer’s must-see movies. After all, Homer’s epic poems have long been regarded as some of the originators of what we now perceive as the hero’s journey, a foundational story arc that has been endlessly examined, emulated, and recreated in countless classic stories, from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings. So, in essence, Nolan isn’t just taking on one of the oldest stories ever told. He’s also wrestling with the very blueprint of modern blockbuster storytelling, seemingly adding his own brand of sophistication and large-scale cinematic ambition to the myth that helped shape it all.
And this time, he’s doing it with the full backing of a major studio, working with some of the most advanced IMAX cameras ever built, and directing one of the most stacked casts in Hollywood right now. It’s exciting. Not because it’s another big-budget spectacle, but because it harkens back to the golden years of Hollywood, when studios threw their full weight behind sweeping, star-studded epics made to be seen on the biggest screen possible. And given Nolan’s track record, there’s a good chance the film just might become one of the biggest cinematic events of the summer, if not the entire year. It will also surely have the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer filmmaker returning to awards-season buzz once the year-end conversation begins.
But why The Odyssey? What was it about this Greek epic that inspired Nolan to take on such a task—one that clearly required plenty of ambition, resources, and old-school cinematic tricks to pull off?
Well, Nolan recently sat down with talk show host Stephen Colbert in a rare late-night appearance to not only pay his respects before Colbert leaves, but also speak about his upcoming film. In it, Nolan explained what drew him to the material and why The Odyssey felt like a story worth tackling on a massive scale.
“I grew up with movies by greats like Ray Harryhausen and Clash of the Titans, things like that. But it hadn’t really been done at a big-studio budget, you know, throw-everything-at-the-screen-and-see-what-sticks kind of way,” Nolan said when asked by Colbert about the reasoning behind taking on Homer’s legendary epic.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker went on to express the connection he felt with the story’s universal theme of returning home and reuniting with family.
“It’s very, very relatable... ultimately, he’s also a husband and a father... and he needs to get back home to his family.”
Family and the loss of family connection have often been touchstones in Nolan’s prior films, with many of his protagonists driven by the ache of trying to return to someone they’ve lost or grappling with the cost of being separated from the people who define them. It’s an emotional thread that has been running through Nolan’s work for years. For instance, Interstellar is about a father crossing the universe to get back to his daughter. Inception is about a man desperate to return to his children while trapped inside grief and memory. Even Dunkirk is, at its core, a ticking-clock survival story about men trying to make it home against impossible odds. In a funny way, it seems Nolan has been building toward The Odyssey all along.
In the interview, Colbert noticed that many actors in Nolan’s cast have previously played superheroes: Tom Holland is currently Spider-Man, Anne Hathaway once played Catwoman for Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and Robert Pattinson is the most recent Batman. Nolan then quipped that Matt Damon was also Jason Bourne. The observation led to a question about the close connection between superheroes and Greek mythology, which Nolan acknowledged, noting that there has always been a link.
Referring to the ancient Greek world of gods and monsters, Nolan said, “I mean, they’re the original superheroes. Even comic book culture, whether you’re talking about Marvel or DC or all the rest, a lot of it comes pretty directly from Homeric epics. Homer, in a way, is the sort of George Lucas of his time. The modern comic book is our expression of the desire to believe that gods could walk amongst us.”
Check out the full extended interview here:
The Odyssey gives Nolan a chance to tackle a mythic action epic filled with gods, monsters, war, loss, and one very long journey home.
Damon leads an incredible, star-packed ensemble as Odysseus, the weary Greek king of Ithaca whose return from the Trojan War turns into a brutal, years-long trial filled with divine interference, monstrous threats, and the slow psychological toll of survival. Odysseus is a tired man separated from his family, haunted by impossible choices, and driven by the need to return home. It’s the makings of a massive adventure film harkening back to the days of grand, old-school Hollywood sword-and-sandal epics that felt like they were made to swallow every inch of the screen. In this case, a giant IMAX screen.
As Damon’s Odysseus fights his way home, Anne Hathaway’s Penelope faces a battle of her own. Holding onto the hope that her husband is still alive after years apart, Penelope must fend off a swarm of suitors circling her throne, her kingdom, and her future. Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, one of the many manipulative suitors trying to court Penelope while closing in on Odysseus’ vacant throne as he remains lost at sea.
Tom Holland is Telemachus, Odysseus’ now-adult son, who has grown up in his father’s absence and feels compelled to protect his family’s legacy while confronting the growing threat of men eager to take his father’s place.
Others in the cast include:
Zendaya as Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare who watches over Odysseus on his journey;
Charlize Theron as Circe, a powerful enchantress who becomes one of Odysseus’ most dangerous and alluring obstacles;
Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, the Greek king of Sparta;
Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, Menelaus’ brother and one of the commanders during the Trojan War;
John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, Odysseus’ faithful and long-serving underling;
Mia Goth as Melantho, one of Penelope’s personal maids;
And because apparently Nolan decided one A-list ensemble wasn’t enough, the film also features Lupita Nyong’o, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Jimmy Gonzales, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Corey Hawkins, Ryan Hurst, Jovan Adepo, Logan Marshall-Green, and James Remar in various roles.
Produced by Nolan and his wife and longtime producing partner Emma Thomas through Syncopy, The Odyssey is being billed as one of the summer’s most anticipated films... and for good reason. That epic cast, Nolan himself, and the sheer scale of the material are enough to make you dust off those old school books and revisit Homer’s legendary epic before it storms into theaters. And if anyone can make Homer feel like the biggest theatrical event of the year, it’s probably Christopher Nolan.
The Odyssey opens in theaters July 17th.
Official Synopsis:
Christopher Nolan’s next film, The Odyssey, is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX® film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX® film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.
The Odyssey stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong’o, with Zendaya and Charlize Theron.
The Odyssey is produced by Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan for their company, Syncopy. The executive producer is Thomas Hayslip.
