
Greek mythology fans, rise up: The first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is here, and it features a slew of your favorite Hollywood stars.
The Odyssey is based on Homer’s epic poem, written around the eighth century B.C. in the aftermath of the Trojan War. It tells the story of Greek king Odysseus (played by Matt Damon) and his 10-year journey home to Ithaca, as he fights monsters and men to return to his beloved wife, Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway.
The trailer opens with desert sand, covered with soldiers’ battle armor displayed like gravestones — seemingly a remnant from the Trojan War.
“After years of war, no one could stand between my men and home,” intones a voice, presumed to be that of Odysseus. “Not even me.”
The trailer includes shots of Odysseus’s army as they fight off a monster shrouded in darkness (perhaps the Cyclops, one of the more formidable foes in the poem?). Hathaway’s Penelope and Tom Holland’s Telemachus, the couple’s son, also appear briefly in the trailer.
At the end of the trailer, Penelope pleads to Odysseus: “Promise me you’ll come back.” He responds: “What if I can’t?”
The Odyssey is one of the most star-studded features of 2026. Zendaya, the real-life fiancée of Holland, portrays the goddess Athena, while her costar in the upcoming film The Drama, Robert Pattinson, plays the god Hermes. Also featured are Lupita Nyong'o as Clytemnestra, Charlize Theron as Circe and Jon Bernthal as Menelaus.
The Odyssey is Nolan’s first film since 2024’s Best Picture Oscar winner Oppenheimer, for which Nolan also won Best Director. The filmmaker, also known for movies like The Dark Knight trilogy and World War II drama Dunkirk, explained to Empire Magazine earlier this year why he chose to tell this epic story.
“As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before,” he said. “And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with — Ray Harryhausen movies and other things — I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do.”
The Odyssey comes out in theaters July 17, 2026.
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