Universal Pictures has released the full trailer for Sir Christopher Nolan's 13th feature film, The Odyssey, his first since the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer. The adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic promises a dark, visually ambitious take on the classic tale, with an ensemble cast that reads like a who's who of Hollywood.
The trailer, which dropped online this week, offers glimpses of Matt Damon as a heavily bearded Odysseus, King of Ithaca, navigating his perilous journey home after the Trojan War. Charlize Theron appears as the nymph Calypso, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, and Robert Pattinson as the scheming suitor Antinous, who taunts Odysseus's son Telemachus, played by Tom Holland. The footage also reveals a first look at the Cyclops and, at the two-minute mark, an endearing puppy that has already captured viewers' attention.
A Blockbuster Summer Ahead
The 2026 summer blockbuster season is shaping up to be fiercely competitive, with Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day, Pixar's Toy Story 5, and Marvel's Spider-Man: Brand New Day all vying for audiences. Yet The Odyssey stands apart as Nolan's most ambitious project to date. With a reported budget of $250 million, it is the first film shot entirely on IMAX cameras, a technical feat that underscores Nolan's commitment to immersive cinema.
The cast also includes Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, and Mia Goth, though the trailer leaves their roles largely mysterious. The wooden horse of Troy makes a brief appearance, hinting at the epic's opening acts.
In an interview with Stephen Colbert's The Late Show, Nolan drew parallels between Homer's epics and modern blockbuster storytelling. 'Even comic-book culture, whether you're talking about Marvel or DC or the rest, a lot of it comes pretty directly from the Homeric epics,' he said. 'The thing about Homer is it's the Marvel of its day, I mean, that's the thing, and so I think there's very directly this desire for us to feel or believe that Gods can walk amongst us, and I think the modern comic book is kind of our expression of that.'
He added: 'The thing about Homer is nobody knows if that was a person, they don't know, I mean, Homer, in a way, is the sort of George Lucas, maybe of his time. I mean, nobody really knows who this person was or whether it was more than one person.'
The trailer's aesthetic leans heavily into shadow and murk, a signature of Nolan's visual style, though some viewers have expressed hope that the final cut will offer clearer imagery. The film is slated for a summer 2026 release, and anticipation is already high among cinephiles across Europe and beyond.
For European audiences, the adaptation of a foundational text of Western literature—one that has influenced countless works from Dante to James Joyce—carries particular resonance. Nolan's take promises to bring the ancient Mediterranean world to life with a scale and technical prowess that may set a new benchmark for epic cinema.
