This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.Tom Holland Says Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' Is 'an Absolute Masterpiece'

Aimée LutkinWed, April 8, 2026 at 6:52 PM UTC

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After directing films like Oppenheimer, Inception, Dunkirk, and the Dark Knight trilogy, Christopher Nolan is turning his lens to the most epic story ever told: Homer’s The Odyssey.

Plans for the film were reported by Deadline back in October 2024, and that December, Universal Pictures confirmed that Nolan would be adapting the ancient Greek classic. Details have slowly surfaced since then, like the star-studded cast, which includes Spider-Man co-stars and real-life couple Zendaya and Tom Holland.

Here’s what else we know about the film so far.

What is Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey about?

Universal Pictures announced on X in December 2024: “Christopher Nolan’s next film ‘The Odyssey’ is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time.”

The Odyssey is a 24-book poem about the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, trying to get home after the end of the Trojan War to reunite with his wife Penelope, who is beset by unwelcome suitors. He travels across the sea, encountering Greek legends like Calypso, Circe, and the goddess Athena.

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Who is in the cast of The Odyssey?

Zendaya, Tom Holland, Matt Damon, and Anne Hathaway are part of the cast, per Deadline. Hathaway is a veteran of working with Nolan, appearing in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises and 2014’s Interstellar. This will be Zendaya and Holland’s first time with the director.

The cast for the film is as follows, according to Variety. Not all roles have been publicly disclosed yet:

Matt Damon as Odysseus

Robert Pattinson as Antinous

Tom Holland as Telemachus

Anne Hathaway as Penelope

Zendaya as Athena

Lupita Nyong’o

Charlize Theron as Circe

Benny Safdie as Agememnon

Jon Bernthal as Menelaus

Mia Goth as Melantho

Anthony Molinari

Travis Scott

Elliot Page

Himesh Patel

Bill Irwin

Samantha Morton

When will The Odyssey be released?

The film already has an IMAX release date for July 17, 2026, according to Variety. Universal has also confirmed the date.

What else has the cast said about The Odyssey?

In July 2025, in an interview with GQ, Holland gushed about his experience working with Nolan on the film.

“It was amazing. The job of a lifetime, without a doubt,” Holland shared. “The best experience I've had on the film set. Incredible. It was exciting. It was different. And I think the movie is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen.”

He continued, “Working with Chris, getting to know him and Emma [Thomas] was absolutely fantastic. I've never seen someone that can work the way that they do, and there is a reason why they're the best in the business for sure. To get a front row seat to that and to be a part of the process and to collaborate with a true master of his craft and learn from him was the best experience I’ve ever had.”

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The actor added he has been a huge fan of Damon and Hathaway, saying, “So to share scenes with them, to learn from them, to become friends with them, I couldn't have asked for a better job.”

In an interview with Good Morning America in October 2025, Holland said he signed on without many details.

“When the opportunity came in, it was the phone call of a lifetime,” he said. “It was reminiscent of getting the call about Spider-Man ten years ago. It’s an amazing thing for me. I’m super proud and I’m really, really excited.”

In an April 2026 interview with GQ, Holland praised Damon’s work ethic and revealed that he provided him wisdom. He also shared that the movie was a “tough” one to do.

“What I’m really grateful for with Matt is that he is exactly what I would have hoped he would be like. He was a leader. This was a very tough movie and no one worked harder than Matt did. And he always came to set with a smile on his face and he was gracious and he was so kind to the crew,” Holland said. “And I think he really set the tone for everyone as to how we were going to collectively make this film. So there are words of wisdom that he’s given me that I’ll keep to myself, but there’s a lot that I learned from him from just being a spectator on set and watching the legend that is Matt Damon work.”

Holland also praised the movie itself and called it “an absolute masterpiece.” He added, “Chris Nolan’s movie is fantastic. It’s unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before. I think when I saw the movie, I found myself asking a question that I haven’t asked about a movie for a long time, which is, ‘How did you do that?’”

The actor also said that he expects fans of Nolan’s work to be “really, really blown away by the set pieces and sequences throughout the movie, because even as someone that was there on the day and was in the film, I was absolutely blown away by the scale, the scope, his ability to navigate such an intricate and heartfelt story in the middle of this insane kind of action movie.”

Holland described starring in The Odyssey as “one of my proudest achievements as an actor and I’m so touched that Chris gave me the opportunity to be in the film.”

Are there any images from production?

Yes. In November 2025, photos of Holland, Hathaway, and more were released, showing cast members in character.

Can I watch a trailer yet?

Yes, Universal Pictures released an official trailer on Dec. 22, 2025. The nearly two-minute clip shows flashes of the events surrounding Odysseus’s (Damon) epic 10-year expedition back home after the Trojan War. It includes glimpses of Hathaway and Holland as Penelope and Telemachus—Odysseus’s wife and son—and the obstacles hindering their reunion. Watch the trailer below.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”