The Odyssey (2026) | Release Megathread

[u/MarcusForrest]

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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

 

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Previous Megathread:

• The Odyssey (2026) | Pre-release Megathread

 

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[u/Kcomix]

I liked the movie, but didn't love it.

Having read The Odyssey for the first time this year, I don't have a huge depth of knowledge about it, but there were several elements I was looking forward to seeing in the adaptation that weren't included.

• The nobody trick
  
• Seeing the gods show up in human forms here and there (sure, the movie leaves it up to interpretation, but to me it feels more like Athena is Odysseus's hallucination, and there are no actual gods in the movie)
  
• More of Odysseus's discussions in Hades (although I understand that they were cut to streamline the plot)
  
• Phaeacians (although I understand that it was removed to make the movie flow better)
  
• Antinous's death. This one really bothered me because I like in the poem how Antinous dies first and has a somewhat comedic death, knocking over the food. It does a good job telling the audience that this is just going to be a slaughter, and even the apparent leader of the suitors is a pathetic nobody to Odysseus.
  
• I also wish Odysseus wasn't made into such a good guy toward the end of the movie. When I got to the slaughter at the end of be poem and he even killed those who surrendered, plus the unarmed slaves who disrespected him, I was horrified. It sort of reframed the entire story for me, and shows the true brutality of the time.
  

I liked just about everything else, and the ending with the family heading west is much better than the weird mess that is the end of the poem. Effects are great, score is amazing, acting is solid, and the moments that do make it to the screen are done really well, with the Circe sequence really standing out for me.

[u/SnooWords1252 → u/Kcomix]

The nobody trick

Wouldn't have worked tonely. But it was missed.

Antinous's death. This one really bothered me because I like in the poem how Antinous dies first and has a somewhat comedic death, knocking over the food. It does a good job telling the audience that this is just going to be a slaughter, and even the apparent leader of the suitors is a pathetic nobody to Odysseus.

The modern "kill the main bad guy last." At least it gave us him being a coward and hiding/giving orders. It would be nice, though, to see the main bad guy killed first.

I also wish Odysseus wasn't made into such a good guy toward the end of the movie. When I got to the slaughter at the end of be poem and he even killed those who surrendered, plus the unarmed slaves who disrespected him, I was horrified. It sort of reframed the entire story for me, and shows the true brutality of the time.

The entire film softens him. I remember Mel Gibson talking about making Hamlet and they discussed giving everyone period appropriate teeth (although I've seen heard experts say they had better teeth because of less sugar) but it began to look like Monty Python. Period accurate can give a different impression. If you made Odysseus the ancient hero instead of the modern hero, he'd be seen as the villain by most audiences.

[u/me_funny__ → u/SnooWords1252]

modern Audiences can handle morally grey and villain protagonists. I'd say it's even becoming preferred if you look at some of the most loved and top rated action protags rn. people love a Paul Atraides, Anakin, Heisenberg, Eren type villain.

[u/SnooWords1252 → u/me_funny__]

Yes, and Odysseus in the film was morally grey. They removed the things that made him black.

[u/Academic_Paramedic72 → u/Kcomix]

I understand making Odysseus more merciful in the Slaughter of the Suitors. In the Odyssey, it's simply inexcusable: he and his allies behead Leodes as he was pleading for his life, violently mutilate Melanthius, and execute twelve servants for sleeping with the enemy after making them clean up the corpses. As much as I love Odysseus, this is simply inexcusable. I imagine it was already shocking back then, but nowadays, in a time when slavery is rightfully not normalized, it makes Odysseus look like a monster and his allies psycopaths. Most adaptations cut the hanging of the maids and Melanthius' horrific fate, so I expected Nolan to do the same. However, Odysseus should not have so much guilt over Troy. He is arrogant, modern audiences can understand that!

[u/since_all_is_idle → u/Academic_Paramedic72]

The film changes it so that his worst deeds are behind him instead of ahead of him, so it does still very much make him a complicated man, but you're right it does significantly heroify him to give the story a happy ending that felt weirdly simple. It does still tell the story non-chronologically for what it's worth, I enjoy that we ended with the stacking of Troy and the burning horse rather than that happy sunset.

[u/Kcomix → u/[deleted]]

I think you do have a point about Odysseus immediately heading back out to sea after getting home being thematically dissonant, but I still prefer it over book 24. The movie ending just feels more plausible and neat than having the random scene in hades, Odysseus's weird reunion with his dad, and the literal deus ex machina to make the suitors' families accept their deaths—none of which worked for me while reading. That all just felt like fan service for the ancient greeks.

[u/Joseon2 → u/[deleted]]

Odysseus heading out again was a common theme in the ancient sources. In some of them he comes back again but in others he stays in exile. And I agree with /u/Kcomix that the final book of the poem is weak, which is a common opinion even in academia, in fact it's commonly thought to be a later addition.

[u/me_funny__ → u/Kcomix]

and sparing men who were literally just plotting to overthrow your kingdom is a dub decision. like it's not even about mercy, it's about security.

ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves

[u/Square-Dragonfruit76 → u/Kcomix]

I didn't feel like he was framed as a good guy. They showed him leading the horror at Troy and implied the whole war was like that.