Prateek Tanmay
3 min readHyderabadJul 1, 2026 09:09 PM IST
Universal Pictures has released a new countdown trailer for The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic. With just over a fortnight until the film opens in theatres worldwide on July 17, the latest preview is the most expansive look yet at what promises to be Nolan’s most technically ambitious production to date.
The trailer gives audiences a broader view of the world Nolan has built, including Matt Damon’s Odysseus and a glimpse of Charlize Theron’s Calypso, as well as a large-scale practical sequence involving the Trojan Horse, which Universal has described as one of the film’s biggest set pieces, involving thousands of soldiers on location. One of the trailer’s most anticipated moments is a preview of the clash between Odysseus and the Cyclops Polyphemus, a sequence Nolan brought to life not through computer-generated imagery alone but through a combination of animatronics, puppetry and a live on-set performance by Interstellar collaborator Bill Irwin, who physically embodied the creature during filming.
About The Odyssey
The production represents a technical milestone, even by Nolan’s standards. The Odyssey is the first film ever shot entirely using IMAX cameras, a goal the director and his regular cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema achieved by working with manufacturers to develop lighter, quieter versions of the format’s cameras, addressing the size, noise and logistical issues that had previously made shooting entirely on IMAX impractical. The film was shot across multiple international locations including Greece, Morocco, Italy, Iceland, Scotland and Ireland, with the production spending a significant period in the Messinia region of western Greece before moving to Sicily and other locations. Ludwig Göransson, who won an Oscar for his score on Oppenheimer, returns to compose the music.
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The cast assembled for the project is among the largest in recent Hollywood history. Matt Damon plays Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, whose decade-long journey home after helping defeat Troy forms the spine of the story. Tom Holland plays his son Telemachus, Anne Hathaway plays his wife Penelope, Zendaya plays the goddess Athena, Samantha Morton plays the sorceress Circe, Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, and Lupita Nyong’o plays both Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra.
