We had reported earlier that Christopher Nolan is mounting a big-budget fantasy through The Odyssey, an IMAX-friendly adaptation of Homer's poem of the same name, produced by Universal Pictures and Nolan's wife. Emma Thomas under their home banner Syncopy Pictures.
The first look of Matt Damon's character, Odysseus, has been revealed by the studio, which has generated much excitement among Nolan fans, who were surprised and relieved at the fact that Nolan is making a sword-and-sandal entertainer.
Damon is joined by a heavy ensemble featuring Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, and Mia Goth, among others.
Hoyte van Hoytema, who helmed the camera in Nolan's Interstellar, Tenet, and Oppenheimer, is the director of photography, once again utilising IMAX technology to bring images of a fantastical nature to life.
The Odyssey narrates the legend of the Greek king, Odysseus. While returning home from the Trojan War, he meets a strange group of mythological characters.
Matt Damon is Odysseus. A film by Christopher Nolan, #TheOdysseyMovie is in theaters July 17, 2026. pic.twitter.com/7a5YbfqVfG
— odysseymovie (@odysseymovie) February 17, 2025
Previously, eight actors portrayed the character in live-action properties across different formats: Kirk Douglas in Ulysses (1954), John Drew Barrymore in The Trojan Horse (1961), Piero Lulli in The Fury of Achilles (1962), Sean Bean in Troy (2004), and Ralph Fiennes in The Return (2024).
In the television miniseries format, Bekim Fehmiu played Odysseus in L'Odissea (1968), Armand Assante in The Odyssey (1997), and Joseph Mawle in Troy: Fall of a City (2018).
The Odyssey is Nolan's third film adapted from a book after The Prestige and Oppenheimer. His other films were his original creations (Following, Inception, Tenet) or collaboration with other writers (Memento, The Dark Knight trilogy)
