The first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is now online, after first debuting exclusively in theaters with Avatar: Fire and Ash. Fans are wasting their time combing through the trailer’s footage, hoping to spot any Easter eggs or clues to the larger story that Nolan is telling. However, unlike so many other Chris Nolan films, there’s no need for so much detective work: If you know your history or your literature, you know that this story is not a new one, by any means. Nolan is tapping into one of the greatest historical epics ever written to create a modern blockbuster movie experience – best to know what it is you’re getting into.
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Below, you’ll find a detailed explanation of the story behind The Odyssey, including what the story is about and how Nolan has assembled an impressive cast and crew to bring one of the most ambitious literary adaptations to life.
What Is The Odyssey Adapted From?
Nolan’s The Odyssey is the latest screen adaptation of the Odyssey, one half of the two-part epic written by the ancient Greek poet Homer. The Odyssey and its companion, the Iliad, are two of the oldest surviving pieces of literature from the ancient world, dating back to around the 8th or 7th century BC. The Iliad and Odyssey each tell their respective stories across 24 “books” ( chapters); collectively, the two epics detail the final days of the Trojan War, which was fought between the city of Troy and the Greek army, which was led by the imperial Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and ruler of Greece.
The Iliad covers events that most moviegoers would know from Wolfgang Peterson’s 2004 historical epic film, Troy: how Queen Helen of Sparta (and wife of Agamemnon’s brother, King Menelaus) had an affair with young Prince Paris of Troy, who smuggles Helen back to his homeland in hopes of marrying her. Instead, Paris ignites one of the most pivotal wars in history, with Agamemnon and Menelaus amassing a massive Greek fleet to sail to and invade Troy, while unleashing the greatest Greek warrior, Achilles, to take on Troy’s champion, Prince Hector. It’s the final days of that invasion, and the world-changing events that occur, which set up the story of the Odyssey (more on that, below).
Nolan’s movie will be the tenth film or TV project that either directly adapts the Odyssey or is based on it. In fact, most moviegoers may not realize that the Coen Brothers’ cult-hit 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a comedic spin on the Odyssey, while the recent character drama The Return (2024), with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, explores the pivotal relationship drama included in the final chapters of Homer’s epic.
The Odyssey‘s Story Explained
The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus (aka “Ulysses” in Latin), king of the Greek island of Ithaca. After fighting the ten-year war against Troy for Agamemnon, Odysseus seeks to return home to his wife, Penelope, and son Telemachus.
However, what starts as a simple journey home becomes an epic saga of struggle and side quests that costs Odysseus another ten years of his life. Meanwhile, Penelope is forced to endure a long test of love and faith, as she is relentlessly pressured to consider and accept a new suitor who can take over the throne.
What you may not get from Nolan’s trailer (but is hinted at repeatedly) is that the Odyssey contains a lot of fantastical elements, making it far more than a standard historical epic. First of all, Odysseus’s entire journey is manipulated by the Greek gods, with Zeus, Hermes, Athena, Poseidon, Helios, Circe, and Proteus all appearing as major supporting characters who affect where Odysseus’s fleet ends up, and what punishments they face. There is also a lot of magic and mysticism involved in the story: curses that transform men into beasts; curses for taking sacred items of the gods; the story also made creatures like the Cyclops, nymphs, Scylla, and the Sirens all famous.
How Faithful Will Nolan’s Film Be to Homer’s Epic?
Therein lies the major question hanging over Nolan’s The Odyssey. So far, the marketing for the film has been all about selling it as a ‘sword and sandals’ historical epic. The cast we’ve seen onscreen has all been reflective of real historical figures or grounded period characters. That includes Odysseus (Matt Damon), Penelope (Anne Hathaway), Telemachus (Tom Holland), Menelaus (Jon Bernthal), Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) and Odysseus band of men, played by John Leguizamo (Eumaues), Himesh Patel (Eurylochus), Will Yun Lee (a shipmate), and others.
And yet, we know from the casting list that the gods and mystical creatures are definitely part of Nolan’s adaptation of the Odyssey. Charlize Theron is playing Circe; Zendaya is playing Athena, and Bill Irwin is playing the Cyclops. Then there is the equally long list of actors in “undisclosed roles” in the film, including, Elliot Page, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Rafi Gavron, Shiloh Fernandez, Corey Hawkins, Nick E. Tarabay, Maurice Compte, Michael Vlamis, Iddo Goldberg, Josh Stewart, Ryan Hurst, Anthony Molinari, Jovan Adepo, Logan Marshall-Green, and James Remar. More than a few of the names in that list (Remar, Hurts, Morton) seem like good picks to play gods or monsters.
That’s all to say: so far, based on everything we’ve seen, Christopher Nolan is doing a pretty faithful modern take on Homer’s Odyssey. There will undoubtedly be changes made to the massive text to make it more digestible as a movie, but the general framework of the story seems to be intact.
The Odyssey will be released in theaters on July 17, 2026.
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