Christopher Nolan premiered the new trailer for the summer’s most anticipated film, The Odyssey, at midnight with Stephen Colbert. The film is what appears to be a fairly faithful take on the Homeric poem centered on Odysseus and his plagued journey home following the Trojan War. The footage is, as expected from Nolan, epic in scope. I’m sure I’m not the only fan of Greek mythology who is incredibly excite for this movie to finally arrive. In his conversation with Colbert, Nolan revealed that the film plays out in a “non-linear way”, which should be interesting.
Matt Damon leads The Odyssey as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca who, after victory in the Trojan War, makes a treacherous, decade-long journey home to be reunited with his wife, Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway. Tom Holland also stars as Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, who seeks the truth about his father as Penelope’s many suitors attempt to steal the throne away.
Also in the cast are Robert Pattinson as the bold Antinous, Penelope’s most aggressive suitor; Zendaya plays the goddess Athena, with Charlize Theron as Circe the enchantress, Jon Bernthal as the Spartan king Menelaus, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, Mia Goth as Melantho, Himesh Patel as Eurylochus, and Bill Irwin as the cyclops Polyphemus. Lupita Nyong’o, Will Yun Lee, Corey Hawkins, Elliot Page, Samantha Morton, Jovan Adepo, Shiloh Fernandez, Logan Marshall-Green, and more have undisclosed roles.
The Odyssey hits theaters on July 17th 2026, and was shot entirely in IMAX, the first full narrative feature to do so. With a budget said to be in the $250M range, this is a massive undertaking. But Nolan rarely disappoints either critically or at the box office, so perhaps it’s not that much of a gamble for Universal Pictures at all?
