{"id":625896,"date":"2026-06-07T11:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T11:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625896\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T11:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T11:40:13","slug":"the-odyssey-release-date-cast-trailer-and-everything-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625896\/","title":{"rendered":"The Odyssey Release Date, Cast, Trailer And Everything We Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The whole world has been waiting for Christopher Nolan<\/a>\u2019s The Odyssey<\/a> with bated breath ever since the project was announced in 2024.<\/p>\n

Nolan\u2019s first film since Oppenheimer<\/a>\u2019s Oscars<\/a> sweep, The Odyssey is an epic tale of war, love and loss with a stacked all-star cast, and marks the director\u2019s first movie shot entirely with IMAX cameras<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At last, the years-long wait for the British filmmaker\u2019s 13th movie is almost over, with its release now less than two months away.<\/p>\n

Excitingly, plenty about The Odyssey is still shrouded in mystery, but here is everything we do know about one of this year\u2019s most talked-about movies…<\/p>\n

What is The Odyssey about?<\/p>\n

The Odyssey is based on an epic poem by the ancient Greek writer Homer, which follows the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, on his harrowing 10-year journey home after the Trojan War. <\/p>\n

Over the course of his voyage, Odysseus battles numerous mythical monsters, including a cyclops as well as sirens and deadly sorceresses, before finally making it back to his homeland and family.<\/p>\n

The story predominantly explores the drive to protect one\u2019s family, loyalty and the use of brain over brawn to succeed.<\/p>\n

\"MattMatt Damon takes on the lead role of Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s new film<\/p>\n

Which stars are in the cast of Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no great surprise that A-listers are queuing up to work with Christopher Nolan, and the cast of The Odyssey is a real who\u2019s who of Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Matt Damon<\/a> is taking on the lead role as Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway<\/a> playing his wife Penelope and Tom Holland<\/a> appearing as his son Telemachus.<\/p>\n

Robert Pattinson<\/a> will play Odysseus\u2019 rival Antinous, a suitor for Penelope, and is joined by his Dune<\/a> and The Drama<\/a> co-star Zendaya<\/a>, who will be playing the Greek goddess Athena.<\/p>\n

\"ZendayaZendaya is set to play Athena in The Odyssey<\/p>\n

Also playing pivotal characters are Charlize Theron<\/a> as the sea witch Calypso, and Lupita Nyong\u2019o<\/a>, who is also set to play both Helen of Troy and her sister, Clytemnestra. <\/p>\n

Rapper Travis Scott<\/a> also appears in the film, playing a poet figure, with Mia Goth<\/a> portraying the maidservant Melantho, John Leguizamo<\/a> appearing as Odysseus\u2019 friend Eumaeus, The Bear\u2019s Jon Bernthal<\/a> playing Spartan king Menelaus and The Smashing Machine director Benny Safdie taking on the role of Menelaus\u2019 brother Agamemnon.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the cast are Minority Report\u2019s Samantha Morton<\/a> as the mythical Circe and Yesterday\u2019s Himesh Patel<\/a> as Odysseus\u2019 second-in-command, Eurylochus.<\/p>\n

Logan Marshall Green<\/a> and Elliot Page<\/a> are also in the film, although neither\u2019s role has been officially revealed. <\/p>\n

Christopher Nolan fans will know the director has a penchant for working with the same actors across different projects, and many of his The Odyssey actors have appeared in his past movies.<\/p>\n

Anne Hathaway starred in both The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar, while Matt Damon also appeared in Interstellar, as well as Oppenheimer.<\/p>\n

Robert Pattinson and Himesh Patel both appeared in Tenet, while Elliot Page worked with the filmmaker back in 2010\u2019s Inception and Benny Safdie had a minor role in Oppenheimer. <\/p>\n

\"AnneAnne Hathaway will play a key role in The Odyssey, which marks her third time working with Christopher Nolan<\/p>\n

What has Christopher Nolan said about The Odyssey?<\/p>\n

Compared to many of his peers, Christopher Nolan is known for his love of practical effects and shooting out in the real world, rather than relying on CGI and green-screen technology.<\/p>\n

The Odyssey will be no different, with the cast shooting in locations as varied as Scotland, Morocco, Italy and Iceland.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy embracing the physicality of the real world in the making of the film, you do inform the telling of the story in interesting ways,\u201d the Dunkirk filmmaker told Empire<\/a> in November last year. \u201cBecause you\u2019re confronted on a daily basis by the world pushing back at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a recent appearance on The Late Show<\/a> back in May, Christopher told Stephen Colbert that he considered The Odyssey to be the original Marvel<\/a> movie.<\/p>\n

He claimed: \u201cEven comic book culture, whether you\u2019re talking about Marvel or D.C. or all the rest, a lot of it comes directly from the Homeric Epics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about Homer is, nobody knows if that was a person. Homer, in a way, is the sort of George Lucas of his time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChristopherChristopher Nolan’s last film, Oppenheimer, earned him the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director<\/p>\n

When asked what made him want to adapt The Odyssey for the big screen, he admitted that a subplot involving Odysseus\u2019 dog Argos had really stood out to him.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cI\u2019m a new dog owner. I\u2019d never had a dog growing up. I didn\u2019t have a dog when my kids were young. We denied that, and then as soon as they left for college, we got a dog.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey love the dog, too, when they get to visit. I decided to do The Odyssey because it\u2019s the ultimate dog story.\u201d<\/p>\n

What has the cast of The Odyssey said about the new movie?<\/p>\n

Lead actor Matt Damon teased to Empire<\/a> back in November that The Odyssey is \u201cexactly what you want [from] a summer movie\u201d, describing shooting it as \u201cthe best experience of my career\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a more recent interview with GQ<\/a>, he shared how the film felt more like the big-budget films he made in the early years of his career.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cIt was a really weird movie for me personally in the sense that I had almost a nostalgic feeling the entire time I was making it, because it felt like the movies when I started working. And I know that that\u2019s going away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt theorised that, because of the way that the industry is headed, The Odyssey could well be the last of its kind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that this was the last chance I was going to have to do something like this,\u201d he claimed, adding: \u201cI don\u2019t think people are going to be given the resources to shoot movies that way for much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Holland also called The Odyssey his \u201cproudest achievement\u201d in an April interview with GQ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Spider-ManSpider-Man actor Tom Holland will play Telemachus in The Odyssey<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you that it is an absolute masterpiece, and I\u2019m taking myself out of that equation. Chris Nolan\u2019s movie is fantastic,\u201d the Spider-Man actor said. \u201cIt\u2019s unlike anything that I\u2019ve ever seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom promised fans they are going to be \u201cblown away by the set pieces and sequences,\u201d thanks to the scale of Nolan\u2019s film. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was absolutely blown away by the scale, the scope, his ability to navigate such an intricate and heartfelt story in the middle of this insane kind of action movie,\u201d he enthused.<\/p>\n

Charlize Theron also backed up Matt and Tom\u2019s comment about the filming experience.<\/p>\n

The Oscar winner told Elle<\/a> that making the Greek epic was \u201cone of the best experiences that I\u2019ve ever had\u201d, stating: \u201cAll of us had a certain personality of wanting to push harder. And when you put a group of those kinds of people together, it\u2019s pretty amazing what they can accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

And rewarding though the experience might have been, the stars have made no secret of the fact that the shoot was an especially tough one.<\/p>\n

Matt admitted to GQ in June<\/a>: \u201cEvery time we\u2019d go somewhere, we\u2019d be like, \u2018Well, Iceland will be easier\u2019. And then it\u2019s raining sideways and it\u2019s fucking freezing. Iceland was like, \u2018Yeah, easy? Hey, hold my beer\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen people look so exhausted,\u201d Robert Pattinson added about the experience in the same GQ article. \u201cAnd this was only a third of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI started a third of the way through the movie, and they\u2019d already been to [two] countries by that point and people just looked like\u2026 I mean, at the end of every day people were broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some critics have already taken issue with The Odyssey\u2019s historical accuracy<\/p>\n

\"CostumesCostumes in The Odyssey were certainly a talking point long before the film’s release<\/p>\n

As soon as The Odyssey\u2019s first trailer dropped in December, sceptics wasted no time pointing out how historically incorrect they felt the armour and costumes<\/a> looked.<\/p>\n

In a Time interview<\/a> from May, the director responded to his detractors, insisting that his research was thorough<\/a> when putting together The Odyssey, and pointing out that our knowledge of the Bronze Age is based on \u201cvery fragmentary archaeological records\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said of the cynics: \u201cHopefully they\u2019ll enjoy the film, even if they don\u2019t agree with everything. We had a lot of scientists complain about Interstellar. But you just don\u2019t want people to think that you took it on frivolously.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was also some discourse during filming, when the director\u2019s location choices were met with backlash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matt Damon and Zendaya were reported to be filming a sequence in Dakhla, a city in the Western Sahara that has been under Moroccan occupation for the last 50 years.<\/p>\n

Mar\u00eda Carri\u00f3n, the executive director of Western Sahara International Film Festival, accused the director, his actors and his crew \u2013 whether knowingly or unknowingly \u2013 of \u201ccontributing to Morocco\u2019s repression of the Sahrawi people and to the Moroccan regime\u2019s efforts to normalise its occupation of Western Sahara\u201d by filming in the region.<\/p>\n

While the filmmaker has not directly responded to these comments, The Guardian<\/a> has claimed that The Odyssey\u2019s shoot in Dakhla was completed in around four days, and was already over by the time the festival organisers raised their concerns.<\/p>\n

Although some were concerned with the costume and location choices of The Odyssey, there\u2019s also been a separate backlash centred on its casting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some online commentators have questioned why a movie based on Homer\u2019s Greek epic appears to have no Greek actors confirmed in the principal cast.<\/p>\n

Greek City Times<\/a> even published an open letter which argues that Greek people are being ignored in a story so deeply rooted in Greek culture, history and identity.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the decision for all of the characters to speak in American accents was one that raised eyebrows<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, The Odyssey has also been met with racist backlash over its casting<\/p>\n

\"OscarOscar winner Lupita Nyong’o will play two characters in The Odyssey<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, certain right-wing parts of the internet regrettably exploded when it was revealed that Lupita Nyong\u2019o would playing Helen of Troy, described in mythology as \u201cthe most beautiful woman in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

One such critic was Elon Musk<\/a>, who has spent the last few months complaining on social media about Lupita\u2019s inclusion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCasting a Black woman to play a White woman in a foundational work of European literature is no more right than casting a White man to play Shaka Zulu!\u201d the X owner claimed<\/a>, referring to the South African king, while also Elon branding Nolan \u201can anti-White racist\u201d.<\/p>\n

Right-wing commentator Matt Walsh claimed in another X post<\/a> that \u201cnot one person on the planet actually thinks that Lupita Nyong\u2019o is \u2018the most beautiful woman in the world,\u2019\u201d despite the star being named People\u2019s Most Beautiful Woman<\/a> after first rising to fame.<\/p>\n

Lupita has since addressed the racist backlash<\/a>, reminding those who have an issue with her casting that The Odyssey is a \u201cmythological story\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur cast is representative of the world. I\u2019m not spending my time thinking of a defence,\u201d she told Elle<\/a> in May 2026. \u201cThe criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt spans worlds. So that\u2019s why the cast is what it is. We\u2019re occupying the epic narrative of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan praised the Oscar-winning actor during the same article, enthusing: \u201cThe strength and the poise were so important to the character of Helen. And Lupita makes it look effortless.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s a tremendous amount of discipline and training that goes into projecting that kind of poise and feeling the emotion bubbling beneath the character, the layers of the character right there underneath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has The Odyssey been adapted for the screen before?<\/p>\n

While Christopher Nolan\u2019s take isn\u2019t the first adaptation of Homer\u2019s The Odyssey, it looks to be the biggest and most epic adaptation to date.<\/p>\n

Kirk Douglas previously starred in an Italian version of the story in 1954 called Ulysses, while the Coen brothers\u2019 2000 musical-comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? turned Odysseus into an escaped prisoner in the American South.<\/p>\n

The most recent adaptation of The Odyssey came in 2024, with the film The Return.<\/p>\n

Starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, the movie covered only the last act of the story, depicting Odysseus pretending to be a suitor to win his wife back \u2013 and killing the men trying to pursue her.<\/p>\n

When will The Odyssey release in cinemas?<\/p>\n

Mark your calendars \u2013 Christopher Nolan\u2019s take on The Odyssey will hit theatres on July 17 2026.<\/p>\n

Is there trailer for The Odyssey?<\/p>\n

There certainly is. Give it a watch for yourself below:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The whole world has been waiting for Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey with bated breath ever since the project…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2826,96,123882,2828,2839,22546,56,173198,54,55],"class_list":["post-625896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-entertainment","tag-lupita-nyongo","tag-matt-damon","tag-movies","tag-the-odyssey","tag-uk","tag-ukfilm","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}