Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Is a Sequel to the Epic Movie He Turned Down Over 20 Years Ago

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Christopher Nolan is a director known for creating truly special movie experiences. He’s famous for using real effects instead of computer-generated imagery, shooting in large formats, and telling complicated stories, which has earned him a huge and enthusiastic global fanbase. Following the huge success of his film Oppenheimer, Nolan is now taking on Homer’s classic story, The Odyssey, in a new adaptation. Starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, the film is expected to be a grand, visually stunning epic, made with Nolan’s trademark attention to detail. Interestingly, this project also connects thematically to a big-budget film Nolan considered making over twenty years ago but ultimately decided against.

Homer’s famous poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, tell the story of the Trojan War from beginning to end. The Iliad centers on the ten-year battle at Troy, fueled by the anger of heroes like Achilles and the efforts of Prince Hector to defend his city. The Odyssey, on the other hand, follows Odysseus’ difficult ten-year journey home to Ithaca after the war. It examines the lasting effects of conflict, the hardships of returning home, and the struggle to rebuild one’s life after experiencing great trauma. Essentially, The Iliad portrays the war itself, while The Odyssey explores what happens in its wake. A 2004 film, Troy, adapted The Iliad; Christopher Nolan was once considered as the director.

Christopher Nolan Almost Directed 2004’s Troy

Around the early 2000s, Christopher Nolan was gaining recognition as a director, and Warner Bros. thought of him to direct the historical epic Troy. After the success of films like Memento and Insomnia, Nolan discussed the possibility of adapting The Iliad, but he ultimately chose to focus on the beginnings of DC’s Batman. This decision led to Batman Begins, which kicked off The Dark Knight Trilogy and changed how superhero movies were made. Nolan’s realistic and character-focused approach to Gotham City redefined the genre, becoming the definitive Batman film for many and inspiring a trend of darker, more realistic superhero adaptations.

Wolfgang Petersen’s film Troy starred Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, and Orlando Bloom as Paris. While the movie earned close to $500 million globally, critics had mixed reactions. Many admired its grand scope and realistic battle scenes, but felt the story deviated too much from the original Greek myth, particularly by leaving out the gods’ direct involvement.

You know, Troy was the big summer movie of the 2000s, even if critics weren’t blown away. It was all about the huge battles, but a lot of people felt it sacrificed some of the story’s magic for the sake of being a crowd-pleaser. Now, it’s wild to think that Christopher Nolan, after all these years, is circling back to this world. With The Odyssey, he’s diving into the heart of those old Greek legends, but I’m really excited he seems to be focusing on what it does to a soldier, the mental and emotional weight of just trying to get home after everything.

A major difference between Nolan’s new film and its earlier inspiration seems to be its focus on mythology. While the movie Troy removed the gods from the story, presenting it as a conflict between humans alone, the casting choices for The Odyssey suggest the gods will have a direct and active role in the plot.

Charlize Theron is set to play Circe, the powerful enchantress known for turning Odysseus’s crew into pigs. Zendaya is reportedly going to play Athena, Odysseus’s divine helper, and Robert Pattinson may play Poseidon, the god of the sea and Odysseus’s main enemy. Focusing on these mythical characters is key to accurately adapting the story, because in Homer’s poem, the gods control Odysseus’s fate – both his hardships and his eventual success.

Filming for The Odyssey is finished, and the movie is set to come out in theaters on July 17, 2026.

Christopher Nolan is known for his unique filmmaking style. How do you imagine he’ll bring the classic story of The Odyssey to life? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion in the ComicBook Forum!

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2025-12-01 00:14