Christopher Nolan is set to adapt Homer’s The Odyssey into a mythic IMAX epic, with star studded cast including Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland and more.
Christopher Nolan takes on Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey for his upcoming project with Universal Pictures. The film will bring Homer’s legendary Greek epic to IMAX screens worldwide on July 17, 2026. It reportedly stars Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and more.
Homer’s The Odyssey, which is divided into 24 books, is the cornerstone of Western literature. The epic follows the dangerous return journey of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, from the Trojan War. This epic poem develops themes of heroism, loyalty, cleverness, the ideas of nostos (return), wandering, xenia (guest-friendship), and the struggle between human will and divine design. Iconic moments of the story are those when Odysseus meets the Cyclops, the Sirens, and Circe, the witch-goddess before he meets his long-absent wife, Penelope.
Universal Pictures took to X, formerly Twitter, to announce, “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 and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.”
Nolan’s movie will be the latest in a long-running series of The Odyssey adaptations. Other standouts include the 1954 Italian film Ulysses which starred Kirk Douglas, the 1997 miniseries Armand Assante, and the new The Return, starring Ralph Fiennes alongside Juliette Binoche. The poem has long inspired literary classics such as Ulysses, by James Joyce, and Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad among many others.
Christopher Nolan’s adaptation will star an ensemble cast featuring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron. Production is set to start at the beginning of next year as Nolan’s second outing for Universal after the highly acclaimed Oppenheimer.