The Odyssey: cast, story and everything you need to know beforehand

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You’ve probably heard of The Odyssey. Maybe it was on your reading list at school, or perhaps a copy is gathering dust in your father's bookshelf. Now Christopher Nolan has adapted the 2700-year-old story of Homer, with Matt Damon as Odysseus and a cast that will impress you. Here you can read what the film is about, who plays whom, how it was made, and why our Dutch hearts beat a little faster for it.

What is The Odyssey about?

The story revolves around Odysseus, the king of the Greek island Ithaca. He fought for ten years in the Trojan War and after the victory, he really wants just one thing: to go home. There, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus are waiting for him. However, that journey home doesn’t go as planned. What should have taken a few weeks ends up taking Odysseus another ten years.

Part of that is due to himself. Odysseus is intelligent and brave, but also proud, stubborn, and not good at keeping his mouth shut. Homer’s epic is also not exactly a spoiler-sensitive story, so we’ll just tell you what happens in the epic. How Nolan brings it to life, you can see for yourself.

The journey in brief

• The cyclops Polyphemus. When he asks for Odysseus’ name, Odysseus can’t help but reveal his true name. That turns out badly, because Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and he wants to thwart Odysseus.
• Circe, the sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis. A sorceress, life-threatening sirens, a sea monster, and an all-consuming whirlpool. Just an average Tuesday at sea.
• Helios and Calypso. After Odysseus loses all his manpower to the sun god Helios, he is the only survivor. He washes up on the island of Ogygia, where the immortal nymph Calypso lives. She falls in love, nourishes him, gives him shelter, and even offers him immortality. He wants to return to his wife. She doesn’t like that.
• Corfu as Scheria. According to the epic, Odysseus washes up in the land of the Phaeacians before he finally returns to Ithaca. In the film, Corfu plays that place.

What’s happening at home in the meantime?

In Ithaca, men think Odysseus is dead. They stay in the palace, want to marry Penelope, and try to take over the kingdom. Telemachus wants answers himself and decides to search for his father. His first stop is Pylos, where the wise, old king Nestor lives, who fought with Odysseus in the Trojan War.

Who plays whom? The full cast

Also featuring Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, John Leguizamo, and Himesh Patel. That Travis Scott appears as the court singer? It can't get crazier than that.

The characters you need to know

Telemachus grows up without his father at the beginning of the story and must slowly take his own place as the future king. Athena regularly tries to help Odysseus out of trouble and also assists Telemachus during his search. And Penelope? She has to hold her ground while the men in her palace think her husband is dead. Anne Hathaway plays her; she is busy this year, as besides The Odyssey, The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Mother Mary are also on her list.

Why is there so much talk about it? Everything is (almost) real

This is where our film heart really starts to race. In a time when every spectacular image seems to come from CGI and AI, Nolan opts for real ships, real seas, and thousands of extras walking through real sandstorms. Our reviewer calls it incredibly expensive and complicated, and probably sometimes quite miserable for everyone on set. But you can feel the difference.

• The Trojan Horse was not a computer trick. Nolan had several enormous versions built. At Pylos stands the life-sized horse, and according to our travel editorial team, the actors were really all in a scaled-down version.
• Thousands of extras. During battle and city scenes, there were thousands of costumed extras. For one large scene, there were about 1200 people on set at the same time. That is really unusual these days.
• Real sea. The ship on which Odysseus and his crew sail really sailed over the Mediterranean Sea. Matt Damon really sailed over the open sea.
• The cyclops. Not a fully digital monster, but a combination of an actor, puppets, animatronics, and digital effects.
• The whirlpool. Practically recreated by having boats sail in circles at full speed for hours.

Of course, digital effects were used; without them, a story full of gods and monsters simply wouldn't work. But they support what has been created on set, rather than replacing everything.

Where was The Odyssey filmed?

The Odyssey was filmed in 91 shooting days in locations including Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Scotland, and the United States. The production moved to a new country every few weeks, allowing actors and crew to almost literally make the same exhausting journey as the characters. Some locations were only accessible after hours of walking. The good news: many places you can visit yourself. In our article about the filming locations of The Odyssey you can read more about it.

About the cyclops: that scene was filmed in a real Greek cave, in Nestor’s Cave. Nolan deliberately chose that location because of the surroundings: a large open cave with limestone and stalagmites. For Iceland, the creators say the landscape had to feel just as unpredictable as Odysseus's journey itself.

The Dutch connection: Hoyte van Hoytema and Klaas Post from Urk

Behind the camera, alongside Christopher Nolan, is also the Dutch cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, now a regular creative partner of Nolan. They previously collaborated on Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer. The Odyssey is their fifth joint film. We are honestly quite proud of that.

Our Dutch contribution doesn't stop there. For the complicated shoots at sea, Klaas Post was again brought in, the owner of a specialized boat company from Urk. He had previously worked with Nolan on Dunkirk and Tenet.

• Six fast RIBs went from the Netherlands to Sicily and later to Scotland.
• They were not the historical ships you see as the fleet of Odysseus, but without these boats, the scenes would probably not have been possible.
• They transported actors, stunt people, camera crews, equipment, and props over the water.
• On the busiest days, about a thousand people had to be safely moved.
• Because the boats were used during the whirlpool scene, the production specifically wanted to work with the Dutch crew.

Because if there is one thing we can do well, it is sailing on the water.

What do you need to know in advance?

• It lasts three hours. So plan your bathroom break and popcorn wisely.
• The story is well-known. The story is 2700 years old and almost everyone knows the Trojan Horse. Those who know the main lines won't have questions about what actually happened in the first half hour.
• It is not a modern story, but an oldie. Our editorial team already mentioned the film in December 2025 in the overview of films that will be released in 2026 and wrote that it is already being called the best film of 2026. If you didn't like Gladiator, you might want to stay home.
• Expect real footage. Much is really built and really filmed, with digital effects as a supplement.

You can read the complete preparation story in This is what you need to know before you see The Odyssey. Want a different kind of summer movie? Then check out The Last Sunrise.

Zendaya and the fashion around The Odyssey

Zendaya plays Athena and simultaneously promoted the new Spider-Man film. For The Odyssey, she chose draped silhouettes and predominantly white looks, making her reminiscent of a statue of a Greek goddess. At the London premiere, she wore a sculptural Schiaparelli dress with a corset and beaded skirt, shortly after creative director Daniel Roseberry presented it during his haute couture show. Earlier, she wore a halter dress with an open back and an attached headscarf from Jacquemus. Why she does this, you can read in Why Zendaya's red carpet looks are never just an outfit.

Watching Nolan: what else can you see?

For those who want to warm up: Inception, the film Nolan made before he dedicated himself to The Odyssey, was released on Netflix starting August 7, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Elliot Page. Elliot Page is also in The Odyssey. Our overview of Oppenheimer helps you if you find Nolan's time jumps difficult.

Prefer a quieter film afterwards?

Then there is The Dog Stars, the dystopian film by Ridley Scott featuring Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley. It is about pilot Hig who lives on an abandoned airfield with his dog Jasper and survival expert Bangley (Josh Brolin) nine years after a deadly flu pandemic. Don't expect an action movie like Gladiator: the film takes its time, especially in the first hour, and received criticism for that. We still find it worth watching.

Read more

• This is what you need to know before you see The Odyssey
• You can visit these 8 filming locations of The Odyssey
• Why Zendaya's red carpet looks are never just an outfit
• This book is already being adapted into a movie by Anne Hathaway
• Grab your diary: these films are coming out in 2026
• Why you really want to see The Dog Stars dystopian film with Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley
• Do you also understand little about Oppenheimer?
• The Last Sunrise

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