trailer of The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s classic, was released on Monday evening. The multi-starrer is the first film in history to be shot entirely on IMAX cameras, and considering Nolan’s legacy, it is one of the most anticipated releases of 2026. The less than two-minute-long trailer gave fans exactly what they expected – enough teases but not enough reveals, but a gorgeous look at the canvas that Nolan is creating for his magnum opus.
high points of the odyssey trailer
There are a few lines of dialogue in the trailer, which are specific to a Nolan promo. It’s filled with scenes both intimate and grand, as the maverick filmmaker introduces his ancient Greece. We see the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus’ desire to return to Ithaca, and the dangers that follow. The scope and setting of The Odyssey is immense. Nolan uses natural scenery and real, rugged scenery to create an epic where every frame feels authentic, not the green-screen fakery we’ve been served up by major studios over the last decade. The Odyssey has the feel of an old-school historical, mythological epic, where the grandeur is mostly real, and only emphasized by CGI, not entirely computer-generated.
Each character gets a chance to occupy the screen for a few moments, be it Telemachus (Tom Holland) or Penelope (Anne Hathaway), though the focus is always on Matt Damon’s Odysseus. The mythological characters have only been teased, Nolan hasn’t even shown us their full outlines, let alone their forms. This is, perhaps, for another trailer at a later time, and that’s okay too. The ‘tease more and reveal less’ philosophy works very well in today’s world where everything is exaggerated and overanalyzed. A little mystery goes a long way in such an environment.
Really, complaining about historical accuracy for a mythological story?
If you’ve been on the internet the past few days, you’ve seen the usual complaints that the armor that Odysseus wears in the trailer isn’t ‘era accurate’, that Penelope’s clothes aren’t accurate, and there’s even been criticism about the color of the armor worn by the ancient Greeks. This is all based on a fictional work set 3000 years ago?
It is true that the ancient Greeks wore multicolored armor to distinguish themselves from the enemy on dusty battlefields. But I’ll take monotone armor over Matt Damon and Jon Bernthal wearing pink and green armor with a yellow shield in hand. The law of cool applies to cinema! It must first look good and then be accurate. For those who complain about the film’s historical accuracy, I hope you won’t clutch your pearls at the sight of the odd Cyclops or Minotaur in the film. After all, they certainly won’t be ‘historically accurate’.
about odyssey
Based on Homer’s Odyssey, the Christopher Nolan film stars Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Charlize Theron. It is scheduled to release in theaters on July 17, 2026.