Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Has a New Trailer and It’s Exactly as Massive as You’d Expect

On May 4, 2026, the first full-length trailer for The Odyssey premiered on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. And yes, it delivered. The trailer premiered as a 70mm print on Colbert’s stage, which is a very Christopher Nolan thing to do at a late-night talk show appearance.

Universal Pictures’ release doesn’t hit theaters until July 17th, but the latest clip gives a closer look at Odysseus’s long, torturous journey home from the Trojan War, back to the Kingdom of Ithaca to save his wife and son. The hype, as they say, is building.

The Odyssey

The Odyssey is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem. Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, chronicling his perilous journey home after the Trojan War as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Anne Hathaway‘s Penelope.

The new trailer shows Damon’s Odysseus battling the Cyclops while Robert Pattinson‘s villainous Antinous attempts to seize the throne of Ithaca back home. So, light stakes. The ensemble also features Tom Holland (Telemachus), Zendaya (Athena), Charlize Theron (Circe), Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal (Menelaus), Benny Safdie (Agamemnon), Mia Goth (Melantho), John Leguizamo (Eumaeus), and Himesh Patel, a British actor perhaps best known from Yesterday, as Odysseus’s second-in-command Eurylochus.

Nolan is notably skipping the traditional historical-epic affectation of a posh British accent across the board. Rather than adopting that stiff, formal dialogue associated with the genre, he’s going for an American sound, evident in the way British actors like Pattinson and Holland are both speaking in American accents throughout the trailer. Bold call. We’ll see how it lands.

Nolan drew inspiration from the 2017 translation of the Odyssey by British-American classicist Emily Wilson, whose version of the text was widely praised for its directness and accessibility. That’s the bone structure the whole film is built on.

The Odyssey is Nolan’s first film to be shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, using a newly developed lighter and quieter version of the technology alongside existing equipment. Over 2 million feet of IMAX 70mm film was used during production. For context: that’s a lot of film. Principal photography wrapped across five countries, Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland, and Scotland, over 91 days.

UK audiences won’t have to wait any longer than anyone else. IMAX 70mm screenings are confirmed at BFI IMAX from 17 July 2026, and according to ODEON, scalpers were already charging up to £400 per ticket during the initial pre-sale frenzy last summer. Please don’t do that.

Nolan also told Colbert that the film’s thread about Odysseus’s dog was one of the things that drew him to the project. “I’m a new dog owner,” Nolan said. “I decided to do The Odyssey because it’s the ultimate dog story.” The man directed Oppenheimer and he’s most excited about the dog. Fair enough.

The Odyssey arrives in theaters worldwide on July 17, 2026. We’ll keep you posted on updates as the project develops.