The Official Trailer for Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' Is Finally Here

The mythic action film arrives in theaters next summer.

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Summary

• Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway rounding out the primary cast
• The plot follows the perilous journey home from the Trojan War, featuring high-fidelity practical depictions of shipwrecks and the treacherous 8th-century BCE Mediterranean
• The film is scheduled for a wide release on July 17, 2026, with 70mm IMAX screenings already seeing record-breaking early ticket sales

The cinematic event of 2026 has arrived with the first look at Christopher Nolan‘s monumental reimagining of Homer’s The Odyssey. Even before the footage went live, the film’s “Nolan effect” was in full force, with 70mm IMAX tickets already selling out across AMC and Regal theaters nationwide. Set for a July 17, 2026 release, this isn’t just a period piece; it’s a high-stakes maritime survival epic that leverages the director’s obsession with practical scale and the relentless power of nature.

Matt Damon leads the charge as Odysseus, the weary King of Ithaca desperate to return his soldiers home following the fall of Troy. The trailer opens with a visceral, claustrophobic sequence inside the hollow belly of the Trojan Horse, setting a gritty, grounded tone for the journey ahead. While Nolan keeps the legendary monsters—the Cyclops, the Sirens, and Circe—largely in the shadows to maintain a sense of grounded dread, the footage focuses on the terrifying, unpredictable power of the eighth-century BCE oceans. The trailer’s emotional core lies in the distance between Odysseus and his family; we see a fleeting, poignant look at Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, and Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope, whose haunting plea, “Promise me you will come back,” anchors the trailer’s tension.

The visuals are a masterclass in Nolan’s signature style, utilizing massive practical shipwrecks and swirling, ominous seascapes rather than heavy digital effects. By focusing on the psychological toll of a decade-long voyage, Nolan looks to transform the oldest story in Western literature into a modern, heart-pounding IMAX experience.