Forget Achilles: Why Christopher Nolan Is Betting On The Odyssey
He walked away from Troy before Batman Begins. Two decades later, Christopher Nolan is setting sail with The Odyssey — what finally drew him to Homer?
Christopher Nolan once passed on making Troy. Two decades and a whole career of mind-bending blockbusters later, he is finally diving into Homer with The Odyssey. Different war, different hero, and apparently a different itch to scratch.
So why The Odyssey now?
Back before Batman Begins, Nolan was offered Troy and turned it down because it just did not click for him. The Odyssey, though, hooked him because of Odysseus himself. He is not just a sword-swinger; he is the guy who thinks his way out of impossible situations. That chess-player energy is what sold Nolan.
'The genius of the character, the cleverness, the inventiveness of him, that was a huge part of what interested me. He is not just a soldier. He is an amazing strategist, a very wily person.'
The movie focuses on Odysseus trying to get home after the Trojan War, but if you are wondering about the most famous trick of that war: yes, the Trojan Horse shows up. And in extremely Nolan fashion, they built it for real.
How big is Nolan going with this?
Bigger than usual, apparently, which is saying something. He told Empire this one might be his most ambitious production to date, and the specifics back that up:
- Shot entirely on IMAX cameras, to the point IMAX had to tweak its own gear to make it possible
- Massive practical builds, including a full-blown Trojan Horse
- Over 2 million feet of film exposed
- 91 days of principal photography
- Months of open-ocean work with the actors playing Odysseus' crew out on real water in real locations
Nolan described spending roughly four months out at sea and chasing shifting conditions to capture what those journeys would have actually felt like: dangerous, awe-inspiring, and not exactly GPS-friendly. It all sounds tailor-made for the biggest screens possible, which is clearly the plan for summer 2026.
Will there be gods and monsters?
This is the question. Troy famously stripped out the supernatural side of the Iliad and went fully grounded, which split fans right down the middle. For reference, it landed at 53% with critics and 74% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 7.3 on IMDb. Nolan tends to keep his worlds mostly realistic, so it would not be shocking if The Odyssey leans that way too.
That said, Matt Damon, who is in the cast and spoke to Empire, made a point that the movie should still feel mythical. Translation: even if the film avoids overt gods-and-monsters spectacle, the tone might still carry that larger-than-life vibe. We will see where it lands.
Release date
The Odyssey hits theaters on July 17, 2026.