Following his Oscar-winning feature film Oppenheimer (2024) which swept the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor, Best Score and more categories at the 96th annual Academy Awards, Christopher Nolan‘s next project is taking shape.
Read on for everything we know about the inspiration, story, cast and more
The film is currently set for a release in Imax July 17, 2026.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Nolan revealed that The Odyssey will be shorter than his most recent and Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer, which clocked in at three hours and nine seconds. Oppenheimer is Nolan’s longest film to date.
As one of the foundational poetic texts of Western literature, the story follows Odysseus, King of Ithaca on his dangerous journey home after the Trojan war. The ancient Greek epic illustrates a true hero’s journey as the titular figure faces Polyphemus the Cyclops, Sirens, the nymph Calypso and the witch goddess Circe in the treacherous oceans that separate him from his island home and wife Penelope, who unravels a wedding train that she weaves evey night in the event that one of the suitors who have taken over her home ends up marrying her should her husband not return.
Elle Magazine revealed that Zendaya will portray the goddess of wisdom, Athena, that Lupita Nyong’o will portray Helen of Troy and that Charlize Theron will play sea nymph Calypso, who traps Odysseus on her island for a spell.
Hathaway, Damon, Safdie, Patel, Page and Irwin have worked with Nolan before. Universal revealed that Damon will play Odysseus in a first look photo of the actor donning a Gladiator-esque costume.
Valentine’s Day 2025 brought about more casting news for the film. First Deadline broke the news of Corey Hawkins; (The Piano Lesson, In the Heights) casting in the film. Then came the news of Nick Tarabay (Spartacus, The Expanse), Jimmy Gonzales (Busboys, Mayans M.C.) and Maurice Compte (Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, Mayans M.C.), also exclusively reported by Deadline.
In early March, Deadline broke the news of Shōgun star Cosmo Jarvis’ casting in the film, but in early July, Deadline also exclusively broke that Jarvis stepped back from the project due to a scheduling conflict. Prometheus and The Defeated star Logan Marshall-Green took his place.
Yes, a full trailer has finally been released online after the clip was playing in theaters ahead of movies.
A second trailer, which gives glimpses of Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson as lead suitor Antinous, and John Leguizamo and more in their roles, arrived in May.
Source: deadline.com