- After an initial reveal snapshot of Matt Damon as King Odysseus and a leaked teaser trailer, we now have first-look images of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
- Damon has been joined by a star-studded cast ranging from Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Robert Pattinson, to Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Mia Goth, and Jon Bernthal.
- Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey release date: July 17th, 2026 (international).
Official stills captured from Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey have now been published online.
Aside from alternate angles of the already-unveiled Matt Damon in full costume as King Odysseus – this time on the shores of Troy before his long journey home and standing at attention with his men in a forest – the images also preview Tom Holland as Telemachus, son of Odysseus, along with Anne Hathaway as Queen Penelope and Mia Goth as the maidservant Melantho.
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“It’s pretty primal!” Nolan said of shooting his adaptation in the open seas during a recent interview with Empire Magazine.
“I’ve been out on it for the last four months. We got the cast who play the crew of Odysseus’ ship out there on the real waves, in the real places. And yeah, it’s vast and terrifying and wonderful and benevolent, as the conditions shift.”
“We really wanted to capture how hard those journeys would have been for people. And the leap of faith that was being made in an unmapped, uncharted world.”
In the same conversation, the celebrated director (and champion of practical filmmaking) revealed his mythic blockbuster used up “over two million feet of film.” Between this, everyone involved, and a reported US$250 million production budget, it promises to be another modern epic for the books.
These first-look images come months after a teaser trailer was leaked online.
In line with Christopher Nolan’s well-documented prioritisation of the theatrical experience above all else, the footage was exclusively screened ahead of Jurassic World Rebirth showings in North America. And while we can’t link you to the grainy copyright-sensitive materials (which aren’t exactly hard to find online), we can describe what unfolds.
The 70-second teaser – prominently featuring Tom Holland as Telemachus, a mystery character portrayed by Jon Bernthal, and narration by a voice widely speculated to be Robert Pattinson – opens to a dark ocean and waves crashing along the sandy shore.
“Darkness. Zeus’ laws smashed to pieces. A kingdom without a king since my master died. He knew it was an unwinnable war, and then somehow… somehow he won it,” says the narrator.
This is followed by shots of the famed Trojan Horse (practically achieved, of course). The wooden decoy’s shadow is stretched across the beach, then shown half-submerged in water from a distance.
The teaser cuts to a tense exchange between Holland’s Telemachus and Bernthal’s character at what seems to be a flame-lit dining event.
“I know nothing of Odysseus, not since Troy,” Bernthal says as a storm rolls in over the water.
“I have to find out what happened to my father. When did you last see him?” Telemachus replies.
“Interested in rumour, huh? Gossip. Who has a story about Odysseus, huh?” Bernthal begins shouting to the others near them. “You? You have a story?”
Armour-clad Greek soldiers carrying torches march through a city street at night. The words “One Year From Now” appear on a black screen.
Bernthal continues as we see a faraway shot of a lone Greek soldier stepping into a cave and unsheathing his sword: “Some say he’s rich or some say he’s poor.”
“A Journey Begins” is shown on screen.
“Some say he perished. Some say he’s imprisoned. What say you?” Bernthal asks as shots of more men walking toward a city in the dead of night; flashes of a tattered flag flying in the wind.
“Imprisoned?” offers Telemachus.
“What kind of prison? Good, old man like that,” says Bernthal.
More waves, more dramatic tensions, before Matt Damon’s Odysseus is revealed – stranded in the middle of the ocean, floating on driftwood (ostensibly remnants of his ship).
“The Odyssey” and “17. 07. 26” appear on screen. The teaser ends.
The Odyssey marks the third project Damon has collaborated on with Christopher Nolan after Interstellar and Oppenheimer, tying Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar); and the second for Robert Pattinson (Tenet), Himesh Patel (Tenet), plus Benny Safdie (Oppenheimer).
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For those of you who’ve never encountered the Homeric classic, the story follows Odysseus, King of Ithaca, as he embarks upon a decade-long homecoming following the Trojan War. Along the way, his return is made perilous (and prolonged) by mythical creatures as well as the “wrath of the gods.”
Eventually, the lost king must rescue his wife, Penelope and son Telemachus from swarms of suitors who seek to claim both the queen’s hand and Ithaca’s throne for themselves.
While the mythological subject matter is something of a departure from his usual high-concept and historical stories, this represents quite a full-circle moment for Christopher Nolan.
According to Troy director Wolfgang Petersen, before he ushered in the era of gritty superhero flicks with Batman Begins, young Nolan was in the running to helm an Odyssey adaptation – which would’ve served as a big-screen sequel to Petersen’s own 2004 Iliad adaptation starring Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, with Sean Bean reprising his role as King Odysseus.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has a July 17th, 2026, release date (the director’s usual mid-year release window for his IMAX efforts) – keep an eye out here for the official footage once Universal Pictures drops it and check out the first-look still above.
