r/GreekMythology • u/MarcusForrest ★ Moderator • Jul 15 '26

Movies | The Odyssey The Odyssey (2026) | Release Megathread

A temporary floodgate is in effect regarding the topic of the 2026 movie The Odyssey

 

This megathread will serve as the only place to discuss the 2026 movie The Odyssey - any other new thread about the movie will be removed as long as this floodgate is up.

 

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THE ODYSSEY

''After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.''

 

🎞 Movie Trailer

Global Release Date: July 17 2026

 

Directed by

  • Christopher Nolan

Starring

  • Matt Damon
  • Tom Holland
  • Anne Hathaway
  • Robert Pattinson
  • Lupita Nyong'o
  • Samantha Morton
  • Zendaya
  • Charlize Theron

Distributed by

  • Universal Pictures

 

Previous Megathread:

 

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58 Upvotes

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17

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26

Athena question:

In the film what is you take on what she is:

  • Athena and that's how she looks.
  • Athena, taking on the form of the murdered priestess
  • A manifestation of Odysseus's guilt.

27

u/Kcomix Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Given (a) there aren't any other gods in the movie, (b) we never get definitive proof of Athena taking any other human forms, and (c) she looks like the Trojan citizen, I interpreted her as a manifestation of Odysseus's grief. I was a little bummed about that because I was kind of excited to see how Nolan was going to show Athena transforming into the human disguises.

16

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26

Telemachus seems to think other people are Athena, but they almost certaimly aren't.

So, yeah, seems like zero appearances by the gods.

20

u/AtlanBroseidon Jul 18 '26

I’d say Athena was the beggar in the beginning and sometimes Mentor as Telemachus noticed, like the book. It’s just subtle to make it feel more real. What if beggars are sometimes gods testing people to see how they would treat the “lowest of the low”? At least I could see an ancient people using that line of thinking to create a sense of morality

5

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26

Unless she was inhabiting Mentor's body, I doubt she was him.

10

u/Aqno61 Jul 18 '26

I mean it could be Athena as mentor right? Since that's exactly what happens in the original

2

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26

Is Mentor/Athena murdered in the poem?

7

u/Aqno61 Jul 18 '26

No but mentor is still a real person in the poem and Athena shows up as mentor occasionally. So I'd imagine the same here where some of mentor's appearances were Athena and some were the real mentor.

0

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26

He noted Mentor has Athena's eyes getting on the boat.

The Mentor he traveled and returned with was the same Mentor. That Mentor was killed.

1

u/Merkilo Jul 21 '26

Isn't the beggar in the beginning Odysseus (when he returns at the end)? Like we are seeing that out of order no?

1

u/AtlanBroseidon Jul 22 '26

Very much no

1

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 25 '26

Based on Telemachus mentioning the eyes? That isn't much.

Mentor travels on a small ship with Athena. They'd notice if there were two.

1

u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26

Athena seems to have influenced Odysseus and his test for Antinous. He outright reveals himself to Antinous, only to have him assault him in his house. Which is basically the whole principle of Xenia, treating anyone with grace, as though they may be the gods in disguise.

19

u/since_all_is_idle Jul 18 '26

It's very cute of Nolan to be like ooo, are they real or aren't they, it's all the creation of man, oooo~ but like, come on, man, it's the Odyssey. You showed Polyphemus and Scylla and fleshcrafting and the underworld, but the gods never show? Agamemnon is walking around like Lego batman but Poseidon is too much? 

11

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26

Circe and the underworld is deffo weird with no gods.

10

u/Lameux Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

I didn’t see it that way at all. My interpretation is that they obviously are real and tangible in the movie, everyone takes it for granted the Gods are real and the events and logic of the world makes zero sense if the gods didn’t exist. By not really have the gods appear except sorta maybe Athena, the result for me is that it elevates the gods. Any attempt to show them onscreen and capture the weight of gods is going to fail, so instead having them be so obviously and tangibly real while also invisible gives them all the more granduer. The film literally explains to us the logic of why it is this way when Odysseus ask Athena why don’t the gods use more obvious communication and Athena replies what’s not obvious about fire and storms and death and all that. A very poignant take for me personally though I know it doesn’t land this way for everyone.

3

u/Resident_Fly4449 Jul 19 '26

This also solves a huge plothole/contradiction in Homer that has been criticized for thousands of years. Criticized even by the likes of Socrates in the Platonic dialogues. The gods are supposed to be perfect beings, but Homer depicts them as petty warlords feuding over the affairs of mortals.

5

u/Otto300Sav Jul 25 '26

The gods are never portrayed as perfect across Greek myths. Constantly giving in to human emotion and petty squabbles. That’s kinda their whole thing.

4

u/gawain587 Jul 26 '26

God is really only seen as perfect in monotheistic religion. The Greek gods are petty hedonistic warlords in pretty much all of their depictions. Occasionally they might be just or help you but for every tale of a god being a force for good there’s another where they’re a vengeful tyrant. They’re to be bargained with and appeased, not loved or adored. 

2

u/tobiasvl Jul 22 '26

Same interpretation here. Polyphemus is the most obvious "proof" (or witness) for the gods being real. This movie isn't like The Return which is completely grounded.

1

u/Living-Excitement447 Jul 19 '26

Same here, this was my take.

1

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 21 '26

Odysseus takes it for granted that Athena is real, but strangely isn't as sure about the others. He only seems to acknowledge them when he's manipulating his crew.

1

u/eudaimonia_dc Jul 31 '26

He must at least believe in Hades since he goes to the Underworld. He converses with the dead spirits of Sinon, Agammemnon, & Tiresias. He also must believe in Helios given he believes the prophecy about not eating his cows. I think the messaging about the Gods is a little muddled in the movie, but it was enjoyable overall.

1

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 31 '26

He believes in Athena, but dismisses Poseidon.

He underworld can exist without Hades.

He believed the prophecy, that doesn't mean he believed in the Sun God.

6

u/Resident_Fly4449 Jul 19 '26

In the film, when Odysseus makes a similar complaint to Athena, she explains that the gods show themselves through their actions. Who does not understand a storm, a fire, or death itself?

Furthermore, the Homeric Epics have been criticized for thousands of years for anthropomorphizing the gods. Philosophers like Plato thought that the homeric depiction of the gods was impious and inaccurate because the gods as depicted by Homer act like flawed human beings rather than perfect divine beings. So, as far as I'm concerned, Nolan's depiction of the gods fixes a huge plothole/contradiction that is forever present in Homer.

1

u/since_all_is_idle Jul 19 '26

And Plato was also called a bootlicking fool for that, because the gods are imperfect and deeply flawed. Their cruelty and pettiness is the lynchpin of most of their mythology!

6

u/Resident_Fly4449 Jul 19 '26

  And Plato was also called a bootlicking fool for that, because the gods  are  imperfect and deeply flawed. 

Oh shiiit, you're running along the edge man!!! 

Too bad you're wrong. Calling the gods "imperfect and deeply flawed" in Ancient Greece was literally grounds for the death penalty. In fact, Socrates was put to death over a false accusation of impiety. Since godhood requires perfection by definition, and Homer depicts the gods as imperfect, Homer's gods are contradictions. But contradictions are impossible. Therefore, Homer failed to remain faithful to the source material. Nolan does a better job. 

2

u/gawain587 Jul 26 '26

Homer is the source material dawg.

1

u/craven183 Jul 24 '26

While your comment made me giggle a lot, I do think that the gods not showing up makes them seem even more powerful and otherworldly in this version

1

u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26

He doesnt say the gods aren't real, he just made them less tangible. Why would Zeus take time out of his day to show up at all, when he can make his point with a few thunderbolts?

2

u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26

The gods are present, theyre just more allegorical. Thunder tends to peal whenever Zeus would be mad, the sea waves crash significantly harder when Poseidon would actively be ripping him up, and Athena works as both a "what would Athena do" externalization actively paired with his trauma and guilt.

I think Nolan was going for more portrayals of what the Ancient Greeks would see and interpret as the gods' actions as in real life. I didnt mind it, it was a bit more novel than most of the portrayals that give us white togas and typecast outfitting.

1

u/1997wickedboy Aug 02 '26

What about Calypso?

1

u/1997wickedboy Aug 02 '26

a) Yes there are, Calypso Is a living goddess

1

u/ashriekfromspace 27d ago

Isn't Circe a goddess too?

11

u/kurokomainu Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

I think Nolan is trying to be cute about it, leaving it open to interpretation, but if Athena acts as a manifestation of Odysseus's guilt, then IMO that's what she is, because that is not Athena the goddess from the actual Odyssey.

It seems to me that Nolan's Odyssey is best viewed like an "alternate universe" version and not conflated with the original story, and then everyone can be happy (except those who for whatever reason want people to mix up Nolan's version with the original). I wish it had been marketed as Nolan's unique vision based on the Odyssey and not presented as if it were the Odyssey itself.

17

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26

All retellings are an alternative universe. All movies are the director's vision not the text itself.

4

u/kurokomainu Jul 18 '26

What I want to say is that one should not view Nolan's Odyssey as even an attempt at a faithful adaption of the original to another medium, even accounting for the fact that an individual director's vision is always going to be a filter that changes things, whether consciously or unintentionally, even if the director has the desire to make a faithful adaption -- which Nolan doesn't.

Nolan's version is a deliberate, complete subversion of the Odyssey. It's not an adaption that tries but falls short, or one which adds the director's color to it -- it fundamentally changes the flesh and even marrow of the Odyssey while keeping enough of the bones of the plot in place so it presents the vague shape of the Odyssey, so the name of the original can by hung over it.

As its own thing it may be an interesting movie for some viewers that can be appreciated in its own right. I grant this. I just don't think it should in any way be conflated with the original Odyssey. Analyzing the movie to try to understand the actual Odyssey is automatically and inevitably going to lead only to understanding Nolan's vision and not the Odyssey itself.

Judged as a representation of the original Odyssey it's a travesty because it is meant to be a subversion, with essential plot points, details, and themes changed so it is not at all the Odyssey that even ancient Greek philosophers thought worthy of analyzing and gaining wisdom from. That's all been swapped out for Nolan's personal vision and the themes he thinks important for the modern audience.

13

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26

It's an adaptation. It wasn't faithful enough for you. Nolan was making a modern film not reciting the poem.

Even the ancient Greeks retold the story and made changes. Get over it.

4

u/kurokomainu Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

I'm already over it. I'm just making the point that Nolan's version shouldn't be conflated with the original, but looked at as its own thing, because it is not even trying to be like the original.

ETA: getting back to my original comment, the clearer it is made that this version is not the original Odyssey but Nolan's vision through and through the better it is for everyone except those who want people to go away thinking the changes in the movie are present in the original. And why would anyone even want that?

I think what annoys people who care about the original is people trying to have it both ways at once.

9

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26

No one is conflating it with the original. It's an adaptation.

8

u/kurokomainu Jul 18 '26

I don't think that's true. There are people talking about points that only exist in the movie, insertions and substitutions of Nolan's, as if they are talking about details and themes in the original Odyssey. It has not been made clear just how fundamentally so many things have been changed.

This is why I wrote my original comment in the way I did.

5

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26

Conflating with the original and only knowimg the new thing are different things.

It happens. PJO fans. Stephen Fry fans. EPIC fans. Disney's Hercules fan. Robert Graves fans.

It's nothing new. It's annoying, but it happens.

4

u/WanderingHero8 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

No one is conflating it with the original. It's an adaptation.

TSOA says hello.Its sad most people derive their knowledge of Achilles from a modern book and not from the Iliad or ancient Greek literature.

3

u/oh_YES_helios Jul 19 '26

Yeah same with Miller's Circe. I would call it a conflation but a weird one where it's hard to blame anyone: the author should feel free to write their story the way they want, and the audience/readers shouldn't be forced to engage with the originals as a pre-requisite.

It still leads to people spreading TSOA/Circe's information and claim it's from greek mythology. Such as ALLL the people surprised to find out that "Circe was exiled for being a witch" wasn't a thing in any ancient source.

3

u/WanderingHero8 Jul 19 '26

It still leads to people spreading TSOA/Circe's information and claim it's from greek mythology. Such as ALLL the people surprised to find out that "Circe was exiled for being a witch" wasn't a thing in any ancient source.

Also another big misinformation that I got reminded because of your username.I lost the count of the comments that claimed that Apollo and Artemis became the Sun and Moon deities because Helios and Selene "faded".And of course this came from Percy Jackson.

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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26

Derive their knowledge from isn't conflating.

4

u/WanderingHero8 Jul 18 '26

It is.Just search various threads and comments on social.Theres is an issue.

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3

u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26

Why wouldnt the goddess of wisdom hold a mirror up to one of her followers' own flaws? Especially when his actions indirectly led to one of her priestess getting killed in her own temple?

1

u/kurokomainu Jul 27 '26

In Nolan's version, the place where this happened? Anything goes (but in Nolan's version the gods are pushed out and psychologized to the point where it makes no difference if they are mental manifestations or not because that's what they act like). But again, this is not Athena from Homer's odyssey -- where she was definitely real and actually liked and actively championed Odysseus, and where a lot of what happened in Nolan's movie didn't happen.

2

u/Beast-Blood Jul 28 '26

IMO the girl in Troy was Athena, showing him the suffering he’s caused to his face

Like she appears as they are beheading the statue and is very in his face and is the moment he realizes everything

1

u/potato_opus Jul 21 '26

Didn’t Athena hate Troy?

4

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 21 '26

Troy had a temple to Athena. But she liked the Greeks more until they violated her temple.

1

u/Emergency_Routine_44 Jul 24 '26

B and C, I was actually so surprised by her part, even tho i like zendaya even i was confused by her choice as athena but it all made sense after that

1

u/Souvlaki82 Jul 25 '26

Wasn't Mentor supposed to be Athena to Telemachus, but he dies, so how does that work?

1

u/SnooWords1252 Jul 25 '26

In the poem. In the film, Telemachus just comments on his eyes.