A new look at Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has been released, revealing Spider-Man: Brand New Day star Zendaya as Athena. We also have confirmation that Black Panther star Lupita Nyong'o will play Helen of Troy and her sister, Clytemnestra.
Helen is the wife of Jon Bernthal's Menelaus and is described as the most beautiful woman in the world (she's also blamed for starting the war at the heart of this story). As for Clytemnestra, she's married to Menelaus' brother Agamemnon (Benny Safdie), albeit unhappily.
It's also been confirmed that Bill Irwin, who voiced and puppeteered the robot in Interstellar, was hired to guide the performance of the mythical cyclops.
Many are expecting Nolan to do for Odysseus what he did for Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy, and it sounds like the filmmaker is indeed taking some big swings with this movie.
For starters, he instructed composer Ludwig Göransson not to use an orchestra in the score, which is what you'd typically expect from a swords-and-sandals film. Nolan has also cast rapper Travis Scott as a bard, a decision that's surprised many and raised more than a few eyebrows.
"I cast him because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap," Nolan told TIME (via SFFGazette.com), suggesting we could see some surprisingly modern elements in this tale. He is, however, looking to stay true to the time The Odyssey is set.
"The oldest depictions of Homeric characters tend to be depicted in the manner of people living in Homer’s time," he noted. "So there’s a pretty strong case there for portraying things that way because that’s the way the first audience received the story."
"For Interstellar, you’re looking at, 'What is the best speculation of the future?' When you’re looking at the ancient past, it’s actually the same thing. 'What is the best speculation and how can I use that to create a world?'" Nolan continued. "Hopefully they’ll enjoy the film, even if they don’t agree with everything. We had a lot of scientists complain about Interstellar. But you just don’t want people to think that you took it on frivolously."
Pushed on the claims of historical inaccuracy, specifically relating to the armour we've seen in The Odyssey's trailers, Nolan said, "There are Mycenaean daggers that are blackened bronze. The theory is they probably could have blackened bronze in those days. You take bronze, you add more gold and silver to it and then use sulfur."
"With Agamemnon, Ellen [Mirojnick], our costume designer, is trying to communicate how elevated he is relative to everyone else. You do that through materials that would be very expensive."
He added, "I think when I signed up to do Troy way back when, I was in a little over my head. The Odyssey is a sweeping story. I think I needed to build on what I learned doing large-scale films to be able to make this film."
The cast of The Odyssey includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Lupita Nyong'o, Will Yun Lee, Benny Safdie, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Corey Hawkins, Josh Stewart, Jimmy Gonzales, Maurice Compte, and Logan Marshall-Green.
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 and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.