It’s Weird That Christopher Nolan’s Making an Odyssey Movie, But Also Christopher Nolan Is Actually the Perfect Guy to Make an Odyssey Movie

That Christopher Nolan! What an unpredictable feline helium is, with his “movies told retired of order” games, “is it a imagination oregon reality” stories, “what timeframe are we witnessing things hap in” trickery, and his “screw it, let’s conscionable tally clip backwards” hijinks.

All of which is to say, for idiosyncratic with specified a notably wacky outside-the-box storytelling way record, it’s a spot astonishing that Nolan’s adjacent movie is seemingly a straight-up adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey.

Sure, we don’t truly cognize each that overmuch astir the movie yet. Matt Damon is playing Odysseus, who is of people the main quality of Homer’s story, and an extended radical of noteworthy actors person been formed successful as-yet unannounced roles successful the film, including Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong'o, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron, among others. The Odyssey is shooting present and has a merchandise day of July 17, 2026, with Universal Pictures calling the movie “a mythic enactment epic changeable crossed the satellite utilizing marque caller IMAX movie technology.”

Matt Damon is Odysseus. A movie by Christopher Nolan, #TheOdysseyMovie is successful theaters July 17, 2026. pic.twitter.com/7a5YbfqVfG

Real speedy for those who skipped it successful precocious school, The Odyssey tells the 10-year communicative of Odysseus’ effort to get location to the Greek land of Ithaca aft the events of the Trojan War, an effort that is made each the much hard erstwhile helium angers the deity of the sea, Poseidon. And this aft already being stuck astatine Troy for 10 years! Waiting for him astatine location are his present big lad Telemachus and his ever-faithful woman Penelope, though things person grown progressively dicey for some of them arsenic a radical of “suitors” vie for Penelope’s manus successful marriage. As helium fights to get home, Odysseus encounters each mode of mythological creatures and challenges.

It’s freaking great, and 1 of my favourite books. But it’s besides proven challenging to decently accommodate to the screen. There person been a clump of attempts implicit the years, dating backmost astatine slightest arsenic acold arsenic the 1911 Italian soundless movie L'Odissea, but often the scope of Odysseus’ communicative has been truncated oregon mismanaged successful translation to movie oregon TV form. However, Nolan, caller disconnected the fiscal and captious occurrence of the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, is perfectly placed to yet get Homer’s communicative close connected the large screen.

But again, what precisely is the manager drawn to successful this story? He’s often got sci-fi oregon sci-fi adjacent concepts successful his films, and portion Odysseus surely exists successful the realm of the fantastical, that’s not rather the aforesaid vibe. (A cyclops is not sci-fi, sorry!) Still, I deliberation there’s a bully accidental that Nolan’s existent obsession… no, not dormant wives, his other obsession… could beryllium wherefore he’s making this movie, and besides wherefore he’s perfect for this movie: It’s his involvement successful playing with time, oregon however the spectator perceives clip successful narration to the communicative being told, that is possibly the cardinal to nailing The Odyssey.

One of the reasons wherefore The Odyssey has ever been a situation to decently accommodate to movies and TV (aside from the obstacle of convincing ocular effects until comparatively recently) is the quality of the main character’s story. While his clip distant successful the Trojan War isn’t technically portion of The Odyssey (that’s The Iliad, for those who besides skipped that class), those archetypal 10 years distant from his household are a indispensable spot of backstory that infuses The Odyssey with a batch of its emotion. Add to that the 10 years that it takes Odysseus to yet get backmost location and then the existent re-taking of that location erstwhile helium battles the suitors (this past portion was its ain movie unsocial conscionable past twelvemonth – The Return starring Ralph Fiennes), and you’ve got a batch of communicative taking spot implicit a precise agelong play of time.

I’ve ever thought that biopics ever tally the information of being the CliffsNotes mentation of a person’s life, which is wherefore erstwhile a movie similar James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown focuses successful connected conscionable a fewer years of a humanities fig similar Bob Dylan’s life, it tin beryllium a overmuch much effectual mode of telling a story. Equally, trying to bash The Odyssey in, what, 3 hours? It’s a tall, gangly order.

But present comes aged Chris Nolan with his timey-wimey and, let’s beryllium fair, highly originative ways of dipping successful and retired of a story, utilizing the precise quality of clip arsenic a instrumentality alternatively than an obstacle. Look astatine Interstellar, wherever Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper takes disconnected into outer abstraction for what is fundamentally a one-way ngo wherever clip gets each kinds of weird for him and his crewmates, adjacent portion his children turn to adulthood backmost connected Earth and, eventually, mourn their seemingly mislaid father. There are surely Odyssey parallels close determination successful presumption of the missing begetter connected a mislaid voyage, whose household faces catastrophe backmost home, but it’s the mode that Nolan tells the story, contempt the challenges of, well, time, that is truthful affecting. He’s not deterred by the immense gulf betwixt the begetter and his children, but alternatively uses it to his advantage.

Odyseuss fights a elephantine Cyclops, sees a clump of his men turned into pigs, and confronts a clump of different brainsick crap successful his story, but helium besides faces clip arsenic an enemy, and successful a assortment of ways. Not lone is helium virtually 20 years distant from his household by the extremity of his journey, but 7 of those years spot him trapped connected the land of the nymph Calypso, who loves him and offers him immortality (another facet of clip oregon the cognition of it) if he’ll enactment with her. He and his crew's sojourn to the realm of the Lotus-Eaters plays with clip successful a antithetic way, successful that those who devour the effect of the onshore suffer immoderate involvement successful returning home, contented to enactment and devour the effect forever. And past there’s our hero’s travel to the Underworld, wherever helium finds mislaid friends and family, including his parent and his comrade Achilles, who are doomed to exist, if not rather live, for eternity arsenic specified shades of their erstwhile selves.

Then there’s the concern backmost home, arsenic Telemachus was conscionable a babe erstwhile his begetter near and is present a young man. Odysseus’ begetter Laertes is simply a bittersweet ammunition of his erstwhile self, having mislaid his woman to grief implicit the past 20 years, portion assuming his lad is gone everlastingly too. And successful 1 of the astir effectual passages successful Homer’s poem, adjacent Odyseuss’ canine Argos has been waiting for him each this time!

Will Nolan beryllium capable to archer Odyseuss’ afloat communicative efficaciously by utilizing his peculiar marque of stylized filmmaking? The feline is fixated connected time, and by hold memory, and that surely seems to beryllium a prime helium shares with the leader of The Odyssey arsenic well, a antheral who yet has thing but memories – of his household and the beingness helium erstwhile lived – to trust connected arsenic helium fights the large gulf of clip to get home.