Christopher Nolan To Adapt Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ For Universal

Christopher Nolan’s latest project has been the subject of much speculation ever since its announcement. From theories of a helicopter movie, to a period piece tackling vampires, theories were all over the internet. It turned out that none of them were correct, with Universal revealing that Nolan will next adapt The Odyssey, an ancient Greek text known for popularizing the hero’s journey and associative tropes. 

The Odyssey follows Odysseus, King of Ithaca, who takes a 10 year journey home from the Trojan War. We will not bore you, or rather deeply entertain you with the intricacies of the plot, but summarize some of the material and mythology seen within to give you an idea of the scope. The poem sees Odysseus interact with the sorceress Circe, the nymph Calypso, the six-headed sea beast Scylla, and much more over the course of 24 books. 

The film already has a huge cast of A-listers attached, with Matt Damon seemingly as a lead and presumably as Odysseus. Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, and Robert Pattinson also star in the film. There are far too many characters in the story for us to attribute the rest of the cast to who’s who, but we are sure to find out more details in the coming months ahead of filming. 

Christopher Nolan has previously directed three period pieces, the first being 2006’s The Prestige, starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johannson and David Bowie; the second being 2017’s Dunkirk, starring Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy and Harry Styles;  and the third being last year’s incredibly successful Oppenheimer, which took home many Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture. 

The Odyssey will serve as newground for Nolan, who is yet to direct a truly fantastical story, often grounding his even more out there work like Inception and Interstellar. Nolan reportedly nearly directed Troy, which brought the Trojan War to the big screen and eventually with Brad Pitt starring as Achilles and Sean Bean playing Odysseus in the 2004 war film. 

The Odyssey is written and directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, and Robert Pattinson and is scheduled to be released in July 2026. 

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