- Following up on the original trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, we now have a second, truly epic trailer that promises what looks to be one of the best films of the year.
- Matt Damon is 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).
A second official trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has finally been released.
If the first trailer established the scale of what we’re all about to witness, the second one, which premiered on The Late Show this week, gets into the heart of the story. Specifically, what’s happening back in Ithaca while Odysseus is away.
Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his years-long journey home are still clearly the main tale, but this trailer shifts focus to include the palace intrigue playing out in his absence. Specifically, the power struggle between Telemachus (Tom Holland), son of Odysseus, and Antinous (Robert Pattinson), who is making a determined play for control of Ithaca.
We also get brief appearances from Calypso (Charlize Theron), Eumaeus (John Leguizamo), and Menelaus (Jon Bernthal), alongside the Cyclops encounter that remains one of mythology’s most indelible set pieces. The cast assembled here, which also includes Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Mia Goth, and Travis Scott, is genuinely extraordinary.
“This is a world where people saw gods in everything – the thunder, the tides, the winds,” Nolan told Stephen Colbert. “We’re trying to take the audience and put them in that world.”
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As for the original trailer, if you missed it, the 70-second teaser – prominently featuring Tom Holland as Telemachus, a then-mystery character portrayed by Jon Bernthal, and narration by 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.
It 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) – check out both official trailers and first-look images above.
